We Hear The Nissan Xterra Is Coming Back (If Washington Doesn’t Kill It First)
Nissan’s legendary off-road SUV could return as an EV.
Aaron GoldWriterAvarvariiPhotographerManufacturerPhotographerAug 22, 2025
FUTURE Nissan Xterra frontquarter
What It Is A reincarnation of the 2000–2015 Xterra as a tidy, off-road-focused (and likely electric) SUV.Nissan recently filed a trademark application for the Xterra name in the U.S., and a teaser photo of upcoming Nissan vehicles included a boxy, close-coupled SUV with prominent roof rails, a silhouette familiar to Xterra fans. While the company has not explicitly acknowledged the name will return, in an interview with Autoblog, Nissan chief planning officer Ponz Pandikuthira said an Xterra rebirth was being “very actively considered” and discussed what such a vehicle might look like.
Why It Matters Nissan’s product lineup needs a few more injections of “interesting,” and with several off-road-focused SUVs now entering the market—think Ford Bronco and Toyota Land Cruiser—it makes sense Nissan would consider an Xterra reincarnation. The first generation of this SUV, which won MotorTrend’s Truck of the Year award in 2000, and played rather well in this niche spot.
Platform and Powertrain Early indications from Nissan were that the new Xterra (assuming this turns out to be the name) would get a battery electric powertrain. The Nissan-teased model features a short nose and plenty of space between front and rear axles for a battery, which certainly supports that notion. The company also indicated the same platform would underpin a swoopy coupelike electric SUV for Infiniti. Both would be built in Mississippi, where Nissan is spending copious amounts of money to retool its plant for EV production.
However, since that initial teaser, Nissan announced aggressive cost-cutting measures, including an effort to reduce the number of global platforms that underpin its vehicles while increasing parts commonality. It’s also canceled a planned EV battery plant in Kyushu, Japan.
With constant changes to EV incentives and tariffs in the U.S. wreaking havoc with all automakers’ long-term plans, we were not surprised to hear the XTerra would be pushed back from an initial on-sale date of 2027 to late 2028, with the related Infiniti vehicle launching a year later. Nissan may well be waiting to see if, and how, the American political climate changes and whether an electric SUV will still make sense.
FUTURE Nissan Xterra rearquarter
Despite legislative headwinds, we think it’s likely that even if Nissan cancels some of its upcoming EVs, the Xterra won’t be one of them (though we wouldn’t bet money on the survival of its Infiniti coupe cousin). Even if the U.S. market were to become extremely unfavorable to electric vehicles to the point that government mandates override growing consumer acceptance of EVs, an off-road-capable electric SUV with good ground clearance and rugged styling would likely still sell well in markets other than our own.
A potential about-face on Nissan’s EV policy does bring up another tantalizing, if unlikely, prospect: Nissan could return the Xterra to its roots and base it on the Frontier pickup. A basic body-on-frame, internal combustion SUV, if done well, could be a strong competitor for the aforementioned Bronco and Land Cruiser and would not contribute to Nissan’s platform proliferation problem.
And if it were built in the U.S., it could side-step a lot of the tax and tariff issues likely to remain unsettled for the length of the Xterra’s gestation. The downside is that such a vehicle would likely have limited appeal outside of North America.
Estimated Price $38,000–$48,000
Expected On-Sale Date Late 2028
Aaron Gold
After a two-decade career as a freelance writer, Aaron Gold joined MotorTrend’s sister publication Automobile in 2018 before moving to the MT staff in 2021. Aaron is a native New Yorker who now lives in Los Angeles with his spouse, too many pets, and a cantankerous 1983 GMC Suburban.
