While attracting new owners to a particular brand is essential to an automakers success, brand loyalty is an absolute priority. Just as you continued to replace your Camry three times, Nissan would like to see their customer base "graduate" from a Sentra to an Altima to a Maxima to an Armada. Or in this case from their entry level SUV , the X , to a Pathfinder to an Armada or Titan. That is the nature of the business.

If you build it, they will come.

Just ask any Chevy or Ford guy about brand loyalty. Ask any Toyota owner what is the most reliable car on the road or an Accord owner about to trade it in on an Acura how many Hondas they have owned since their first Civic couple.

The X was marketed as an entry level SUV. It got a number of people who hadn't previously considered one into an SUV and was a first new vehicle or first truck for many of the owners. Don't let the overwhelming enthusiasm of the people on this board for their vehicles fool you.

The people here, the enthusiast, represent just a portion of the actual X owners. There are a lot of people out there that drive their vehicle for the 4-5 year term of their loan and then trade it in and start over. The 1st generation of the X is just coming up on being 5 years old now. You are going to see a lot more of them being paid off as they start hitting that 100mile+ mark on the odometer.

A 100 thousand mile truck is a 100 thousand mile truck. Like it or not, things start going wrong as you start getting up in miles. So people are either going to keep their 1st gen. X as a weekend vehicle or a play toy or they are going to sell them and buy something else before they have to start paying for major repairs.

The enthusiast that is truly attatched to his vehicle might just drive it into the ground and replace the engine. We might start seeing the off-roaders among us shed the X of it's interior trim as they start installing roll cages and fuel cells.

But for the most part, people will sell them or trade them in and get something else. Some may have added members of the family and a nicer income since their X purchase and might be stepping up to the Armada or choose that since they are a little older now they would prefer the luxury features of a Pathfinder or it's Infinity sibling.

But regardless, there will be a great number of people that find themselves drawn to a unique vehicle with an interesting roofline and a bulge on the rear hatch and feel a wonderfull femiliarity. They will get behind the wheel and it will feel comfortable, like home. Then they will take that test drive and it will seem solid and firm, crisp yet powerfull. And they will fall in love all over again.

Oh yes. Nissan built it and they will come.

Think Porche 911. Think Corvette. Think Miata. In the world of cars they are all very distinct vehicles with a huge enthusiast following. The key for manufacturers is to preserve the characteristics that make the vehicle unique to the marketplace while updating the technology, performance and design.

This X is a complete redesign. It's on a new, more rigid platform, new transmission, transfer case and engine. They did all this while preserving the look that makes the X unique. The roofline, the rear end, and the features that distinctly identifiy the X are still there while having the platform, engine and the driveline that we'd all covet.

All this while still looking like an Xterra on the outside.