Nissan’s new CEO seems pretty serious, and to be moving quickly, with the whole turnaround thing. One thing’s becoming clear: Team Nissan is excited about the return of the Xterra. Late Tuesday night, which is mid-day in Japan, Chairman Nissan Americas Christian Meunier released a teaser image of the upcoming Xterra SUV on LinkedIn.

The caption? “Badass is back.” Enthusiasts want to believe, Meunier. And the teaser image lends even more credence to the story that Nissan seems pretty serious about this comeback of an cult classic.

The image Meunier released shows a shadowy SUV blasting across desert dunes. While the shadows are real, we can see a chiseled outline, throwback greenhouse and overall shape with upright sides and squared off edges, just like the original Xterra. It’s hard to tell if there’s a stepped roof like the original model.

A spare tire can be seen hanging off the tailgate and there appears to be a generous amount of ground clearance. On Monday, Nissan gave us our first glimpse of the Xterra’s front end with a chiseled hood, blocky front end, and a segmented light bar of amber LED daytime running lights. Those lights form triple mail slots from the original hardbody Pathfinder.

The next Xterra will be available with a V6 and V6 hybrid powertrain, and there’s no turbo-four in sight. The Xterra will ride on a new body-on-frame platform that will underpin a family of frame-based vehicles including a new Frontier pickup truck, three-row SUV, and two Infiniti models. The Xterra will arrive first in the second half of 2028 with production set to be based in Canton, Mississippi.

For now, it looks and sounds like we’ll be getting lots of drip teasers over the next two years. Are we excited yet? Got a tip about future product? Send us a line at tips@thedrive.com