Nissan Canada Inc. likes to call the Xterra its "all-new back-to-basics sport utility vehicle," but the Mississauga firm has decided to offer it only in a single, off-road-ready package with only an automatic transmission as an option.
So even though its manufacturer's suggested retail price of $28,998 is pretty aggressive considering the vehicle's equipment (Nissan says it matches the vehicle's back-to-basics attitude) and the competition's stickers, the 2000 Xterra will not be as widely appealing in Canada as it will be in the U.S., where a variety of levels are available.
In Canada, the single package includes a 170-horsepower, 3.3-litre V6 and complete off-road equipment such as heavy-duty 4-wheel-drive, 2-speed transfer case, auto-locking hubs, protective skid-plates and side-rails, a limited-slip diffferential, all-terrain anti-lock brakes and heavy-duty tires."
Other standard Xterra features include a heavy-duty roof-rack, 6-speaker AM/FM stereo system with CD player, air conditioning, dual airbags, power windows, mirrors and locks, overhead map-lights, extra front and rear 12-volt power-points, remote locking, numerous interior tie-down hooks for sports equipment and other cargo, and even a "comprehensive" first-aid kit."
The automatic transmission will be priced at $1,200.
Billed as a vehicle for the "backpack generation", Xterra begins arriving in Canadian dealership showrooms in a matter of days.
With numerous car-based "cute-utes" and "pseudo sport-utes" on the market, Nissan designer Jerry Hirshberg says, the new Nissan Xterra stands out as being truly rugged and "a return to the soul of the sport utility vehicle."
Hirshberg says that Xterra is expected to appeal to a youthful group that has been largely overlooked -- "surfers, mountain-bikers, hikers and snow-boarders. Xterra is intended to take these people wherever they want to go to pursue their highly active life-styles.
Ian Forsyth, director of marketing for Nissan Canada says, "As the popularity of SUVs exploded in recent years, our industry went off in all directions - losing sight of the original idea of an SUV as rugged, fun, go-anywhere vehicle. Our research indicates there's a whole segment of the marketplace waiting for a vehicle like this."
Ironically, whenever Forsyth was asked about the need for a back-to-basics sport-ute during any past event featuring Nissan's more upscale Pathfinder brand, he would say that there was no appreciable demand for such a vehicle.