The 2030 Nissan Xterra will be fully-electric and trail ready

Chalk this up to the rumor mill for now, but we believe that the Nissan Xterra will be making its return to dealerships before the end of the decade, and it’ll be fully electric. Nissan’s Ambition 2030 goals necessitate more electric vehicles in its fleet, including a rumored return of the GT-R as an EV, but we think it’ll also use that opportunity to bring back the Xterra.

Gone since 2015, the Xterra was a family SUV with some more serious off-road credentials. It was powered by a 4.0-liter VQ40DE V6 engine making 261 horsepower, and shared a body-on-frame platform with the Nissan Frontier and the Pathfinder. You could spec one with either a 5-speed automatic transmission or a 6-speed manual.

Due to changing emission and crash regulations, Nissan opted to pull the plug on the Xterra. But we’d contend it was just a vehicle a bit ahead of its time. Off-road focused SUVs are de rigueur these days, with some of the best ones also being fully-electric. (We’re looking at you, Rivian R1S.)

There has also been demand for Nissan to bring the car back. You could probably restart the assembly line in Canton today, with the same moldings, and be able to sell the car. But, of course, that wouldn’t work. Nissan will, though, need something to be competitive in this space.

The 2030 Nissan Xterra could be powered by the same EV powertrain that’s in the current-generation Ariya. But likely it’ll be next-generation hardware. We’d expect somewhere around 450 horsepower and and 550 lb-ft of torque. The onboard battery pack will likely be in the 70 kWh range, with LFP chemistry. We don’t expect solid state to be ready for prime time. But we could be wrong there. We’d expect somewhere around 270 miles of all-electric range.

It wouldn’t be as dedicated of an off-roader as Bronco or Wrangler, per se, but more like a 4Runner with a Nissan badge and an all-electric setup.

With room for 5, the 2030 Nissan Xterra will be able to take the family on long adventures, and the integrated NACS connector will make it easy to recharge on any of the many charging networks that’ll be online by the turn of the decade.

Speaking of Canton, Mississippi, we expect the Xterra EV to be built at the complex alongside the Altima and Murano EVs, and that Canton will become an EV-hub for Nissan’s North American production.

We’ll update this page as we learn more. Like we said, this is all pure speculation at this point. But Xterra is lovingly-regarded by many Nissan fans, and it only makes sense to bring it back for a new generation of buyers.