Nissan Says It Will ‘Find a Way’ to Bring Back the Xterra

Nissan dealers started asking for a new Xterra years ago. Enthusiasts certainly wouldn’t mind one, considering the rising popularity of off-roaders and off-roader-like models. Now, one of the company’s top executives is joining the push to bring back Nissan’s 4Runner rival.

“If I could bring a car tomorrow, it would be the Xterra. We’re working on it. We’ll find a way,” said Christian Meunier, the chairperson of Nissan Americas, in an interview with trade journal Automotive News. He knows a thing or two about SUVs: He used to be Jeep’s CEO.

Of course, it takes more than an executive’s nod to bring a car into showrooms. Nissan currently has far bigger problems to solve, such as mounting losses and the ongoing search for an industrial partner after a promising tie-up with Honda fell through. Sales are dropping in key markets. The company appointed a new CEO in March 2025 and slashed 9,000 jobs in 2024 in a bid to implement a turnaround plan.

It sounds like we won’t see a born-again Xterra until Nissan is back on solid financial footing. In the meantime, Meunier has started putting together a wish list for the model. He told Automotive News that the next Xterra, which will mark the nameplate’s third generation, should land as a midsize, pickup-based SUV that channels the spirit of the original model released for the 2000 model year. In other words, it won’t be a watered-down crossover lookalike that’s more show than go. The reference to a pickup-based architecture strongly suggests that the SUV will be related to the Frontier under the sheet metal. This makes perfect sense: The platform already exists, so using it will allow Nissan to keep development costs in check while reaping the rewards of economies of scale. The executive added that the next Xterra will be affordable.

“I can overland in the desert for the weekend, or have a long trip. It will be something cool [and] cost-competitive,” Meunier summed up.

Ponz Pandikuthira, the head of product planning for Nissan Americas, echoed Meunier’s comments. “We think it does a lot for the brand,” he told the publication, clarifying that his team is “trying to figure out a way to authentically bring that nameplate back into the lineup.”

It’s too early to provide a launch timing, but Nissan’s comments suggest that a new Xterra is years, not months, away. That timeline brings electrification into the equation. “To introduce an Xterra with a purely internal combustion [engine] in that segment doesn’t make sense from an emissions compliance standpoint,” Pandikuthira noted. Going electric is unlikely, so it sounds like the next Xterra will land with (or at least be offered with) a hybrid option. Perhaps tellingly, the current-gen Frontier is expected to go hybrid before the end of its life cycle.

Meunier floated the idea of a hybrid system with a gasoline-burning range-extending generator. “It gives you the opportunity to have the electric [driving] experience for 70 to 100 miles, and a 600-mile driving range combined. Maybe an Xterra should be like that,” he hinted.

While an electric Xterra isn’t in the pipeline, Nissan is reportedly planning to launch an EV with a handful of Xterra-inspired styling cues, including a squared-off rear end, in 2028. The yet-unnamed model is one of five electric cars that the company hopes to launch by the end of the decade. The next-generation GT-R is on the horizon, too. It’s coming in three to five years with hybrid power, though the level of electrification hasn’t been dialed in yet. If all goes according to plan, Nissan’s 2030 range will be a lot more exciting than its 2025 lineup.

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