The American car market has been flooded with over-the-top SUVs. They’re getting bigger and costlier despite pushback from the families that can’t afford them. However, Nissan is taking the upcoming Xterra in a completely new direction.<\/p>\n
Nissan has confirmed that the 2028 Xterra will be “below $40,000,” although that could mean $39,995. Either way, it’s good to hear that there’s a $40,000 cap. The Xterra was discontinued in 2015 after sales began to decline. The overly complex and specialized SUV was horrible on gas, expensive to maintain, and not many Americans found it worth it.<\/p>\n
At the time, the base model cost $23,660, which translates to $32,963.20 in today’s money due to inflation. However, due to the Trump Administration’s tariffs costing automakers billions and an obsession with making luxury vehicles packed with advanced technology and features, the average vehicle cost in 2026 has jumped to $50,000. If nobody wanted to pay for the Xterra back then, nobody would want to now if the price skyrocketed. And Nissan probably knew that.<\/p>\n
Nissan plans to bring the Xterra’s price down in a pretty novel way for this day and age: getting rid of stuff.<\/p>\n
“We’re gonna bring an Xterra below $40,000,” Nissan Americas chairman Christian Meunier said in an interview with Edmunds<\/a>. “We’re gonna bring an Xterra with everything you need and nothing you don’t.” Meunier added that Nissan “lost its way” recently, dropping its affordability focus to add more technology “for the sake of it.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n He said: “We’re gonna stop doing it. Xterra is gonna be the symbol of this.”<\/span><\/p>\n In 2026, it sounds a bit shocking to hear that a vehicle will have fewer features. Technology has been at the forefront of most automakers’ minds, with “software-as-a-service” becoming a huge revenue source. This means more driver assistance, more safety features, more AI helpers<\/a>, and more screens. Ambient lighting, massage chairs, and more connectivity (if you pay<\/a>). SUVs have become a backup living room, meant to bring the comforts of home with you on the road as you drive to Trader Joe’s or drop the kids off at school. The result has been an increase in luxury SUVs<\/a> competing for more, more, more.<\/p>\n The Xterra dropping all the extras will keep costs down. And I don’t think Americans will miss all that stuff. A simple, rugged off-roader without a bunch of nannies and screens actually sounds like something the market is missing. Even the Jeep Wrangler, iconic for its bare-bones adventuring, is pretty packed with screens and safety features. It might even feel more daring to take the Xterra off the pavement without a ton of guidance and assistance along the way. I am sure the Xterra will still have a screen and some off-roading and safety features, but if it were kept to just the essentials and paired with knobs and buttons, I feel it would have that rough-and-tumble spirit that a lot of drivers crave.<\/p>\n We don’t know much about the 2028 Nissan Xterra, but we do know it will use Nissan’s body-on-frame platform shared with other SUVs in the lineup and will come with either a V6 or a V6 hybrid powertrain. We also know that Nissan is planning an off-roading Infiniti, which will be the brand’s more luxurious and feature-focused option. This gives even more hope that Nissan means what it says when it claims that the Xterra will be a breakaway from all that, since it has the Infiniti for those who like a bit more comfort.<\/p>\n Said Nissan Americas Chief Product and Planning Officer Ponz Pandikuthira: \u201cSo at this point, all we can say is, if Xterra, which has a clear position already in the marketplace of a rugged everything-you-need-nothing-you-don\u2019t-type SUV for Nissan, the Infiniti version will have to be separated from it, much like QX80\u00a0is separated from\u00a0Armada.\u201d<\/p>\n Alright, Nissan, let’s see those mid-$30,000 prices!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The American car market has been flooded with over-the-top SUVs. They’re getting bigger and costlier despite pushback from the families … <\/p>\n