Styled by NDI Director of Design Tom Semple and developed at Nissan Design America in La Jolla, California, the Xterra was the first Nissan vehicle completely conceived, developed and manufactured in the United States. According to Jerry Hirshberg, president of Nissan Design International (NDI), "the impetus for Xterra designers was to create an affordable, rugged, quality piece of equipment". He later described it as "a garage tool that says, 'treat me rough' -- it's designed to look better dirty than clean."