Nissan XIX
Car of the Day #172: 1995 Nissan XIX – Utility maverick
For a long time, trucks have been the best-selling vehicles in North America.
They represent our culture at its best and worst. Though where I live is ringed with farm land, 80 per cent of the traditional body-on-frame trucks I see are hauling air.
Forgetting the larger Honda Ridgeline for a minute, one of the most revered modern trucks is the Ford Maverick — which is essentially a modern version of the Nissan XIX…which they’d hoped people would pronounce as “Kicks”.
Nissan must have had the same idea in 1995, though to be fair, Nissan had a lot of ideas in the 90s, which is probably why by 1999 it had to partner with Renault.
From where I'm sitting, the XIX was a great idea: a car-based truck that was at home in cities, didn't use much fuel, but had a truck bed for carrying larger items that cars cannot.
Of course, that didn't stop people for commenting on its looks. For instance, more than a decade ago, pickuptrucks.com said, “Don't blame us if you get eye cancer,” a rather harsh sentiment for a little red concept truck. After its debut at the 1995 Tokyo Motor Show (where else?) the XIX disappeared…I can find only a few real photos of it.
Based on the Nissan Sentra, it was basically a crew cab Dodge Rampage. Nissan said it was fitted with a 4-cylinder SR20DE — a well-regarded engine that many still rate quite highly.
Its looks are a little on the odd side, it would have slotted in neatly beside the very square Nissan Rasheen (and Autech A10).
In Japan, Nissan has been trying for decades to make their small vehicles popular —typically this requires its models to be shaped like a cube.
After a bit of digging, I know why: both the cube and XIX, along with the X-Trail and Elgrand, were designed with input from the same guy: Etsuro Ikeyama.
