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.