With the 1999 Xterra having been developed at Nissan Design America in California, all updates for the 2002 Xterra were executed at Nissan Technical Center-North America in Farmington Hills, Michigan. The facelifted model debuted at the 2001 Chicago Auto Show prominently revised front-end styling with rounded headlights, revised instrument panel, center console, larger glove compartment, pullout rear cup holders and four interior power points, foot-operated pedal parking brake (vs. previous a dash-mounted pull-and-twist parking brake) — and an increase of 10 horsepower for the V6 engine.