While Toyota, Jeep and Land Rover remain committed to building off road-capable SUVs, Nissan is reportedly considering abandoning the rugged segment by discontinuing its once-popular Xterra.
“Xterra’s in a tough segment; the segment’s falling apart,” Larry Dominique, vice president-advanced product and product planning and strategy, told Ward’s.
Automakers have watched the SUV segment plummet as most buyers found more interest in crossovers.
“There’s one high-volume vehicle left [in the segment] and that’s [the Jeep] Wrangler,” Dominique said, apparently forgetting the recently-revamped Toyota 4Runner. “Everybody else has dropped out due to really low volumes. With [new U.S. corporate average fuel economy rules] Xterra’s going to be a tough vehicle to keep around.”
Xterra sales, like those of most rugged SUVs, have tanked in the last 10 years. According to Ward’s, Nissan sold 88,578 Xterras in 2000 but is up to just 12,186 so far this year. That low volume is enough to make Nissan question the Xterra’s business case.
The segment, some automakers argue, isn’t going away entirely. The redesigned 2010 4Runner, which has been on the market less than a year, has seen sales more than double – to 25,767 through July – and Jeep’s all-new 2011 Grand Cherokee is said to be a hot seller despite having only been on the market for a few weeks.
Ford, meanwhile, chose to essentially abandon the segment with its redesigned 2011 Ford Explorer. Although the new Explorer is marketed as an off road-capable vehicle, its light-duty construction and on road-oriented features help better define it as a crossover.
Pathfinder to live
Nissan’s larger truck-based SUV, the Pathfinder, is also getting a bit long in the tooth, but Dominique was more optimistic about its future.
“Pathfinder will live on,” he said. “How it will live on, wait to see. There’s no reason to get rid of a three-row crossover or SUV.”
Both models are scheduled to continue in their current configurations at least through the 2011 model year.
References
1.’ Nissan Xterra on…’ view
