OK I know this is not a Versa post, but I am interested in something... When I went to Montreal, I saw this small SUV that they sell there called the x-trail. They were all over the place and not just because I was looking (I only saw a couple Versas, a couple fits and about a million Yaris/Echo hatches).
Anyway, WTF? The x-trail would be a good fit here. In fact, I would have considered it if they had them here. Oh well, I guess that they get the Acura Civic (hah!), a 4 door Yaris, the x-trail and even some old Ladas and we get... Scion. Yay. It's just weird that Nissan is not trying to compete in the smaler SUV arena bc Honda and Toyota both are...
x-trail?
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Ever Victorious
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Re: x-trail? (versula)
May simply be a case of having waited too long. Though Honda and Toyota are well established in that market, you also have the Mazda Tribute/Ford Escape taking up some of it, and a surprising number of Hyundai Tucsons sold.
Re: x-trail? (versula)
I live in Calgary and my dad has an X-trail 2006 Xtreme edition and its awesome . I read somewhere that they dont sell them in the states because it will affect the market for the Xterra or something like that...
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MinisterofDOOM
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Re: x-trail? (c0smuss)
I doubt the X-Trail would encroach on Xterra sales...the Xtrail is a fairly soft grocery getter, while the Xterra is one of the most solid offroading platforms in production.
That may have partially been the case with the old Xterra, though, since it was quite a bit smaller and had a 4 cylinder option. With the increased size and cost of the new one, I can see the Xtrail fitting in nicely below it as a compact grocery getter.
Nissan also has some models in slots that Honda don't occupy, like the latest (body-on-frame) Pathfinder, Xterra, and Armada/QX56... Honda doesn't offer a midsize body-on-frame SUV or a full size SUV of any kind, while Toyota just barely released the FJ Cruiser and continues to fail miserably at anything involving the words "full size" and "truck"--including their useless Sequoia. Sales from those segments probably make up for the missing compact-SUV sales for Nissan.
However, Nissan and Infiniti do indeed plan to launch new compact SUV models soon. The Infiniti is tentatively known as the CX (though that may change since Mazda has taken that label for their new SUV line). It's expected to look similar to the Infiniti FX and to have both I4 and V6 powerplant options. It's Nissan counterpart will be called the Qashqai ( ) and looks very much like a melding of the 2004-2006 Maxima with a Versa hatchback.
Here's a whole bucketload of Qashqai pictures.
It looks like the US name for Qashqai MAY be "Rogue" (though this is just me guessing...). Nissan has put out a very lightweight press kit for a new crossover called Rogue that consists of a conceptual drawing of a rear quarter. It looks very similar to the Qashqai.
That may have partially been the case with the old Xterra, though, since it was quite a bit smaller and had a 4 cylinder option. With the increased size and cost of the new one, I can see the Xtrail fitting in nicely below it as a compact grocery getter.
Nissan also has some models in slots that Honda don't occupy, like the latest (body-on-frame) Pathfinder, Xterra, and Armada/QX56... Honda doesn't offer a midsize body-on-frame SUV or a full size SUV of any kind, while Toyota just barely released the FJ Cruiser and continues to fail miserably at anything involving the words "full size" and "truck"--including their useless Sequoia. Sales from those segments probably make up for the missing compact-SUV sales for Nissan.
However, Nissan and Infiniti do indeed plan to launch new compact SUV models soon. The Infiniti is tentatively known as the CX (though that may change since Mazda has taken that label for their new SUV line). It's expected to look similar to the Infiniti FX and to have both I4 and V6 powerplant options. It's Nissan counterpart will be called the Qashqai ( ) and looks very much like a melding of the 2004-2006 Maxima with a Versa hatchback.
Here's a whole bucketload of Qashqai pictures.
It looks like the US name for Qashqai MAY be "Rogue" (though this is just me guessing...). Nissan has put out a very lightweight press kit for a new crossover called Rogue that consists of a conceptual drawing of a rear quarter. It looks very similar to the Qashqai.