Nissan's not X-tearing up the preserves

Nissan took some journalists off-road in Florida to show the toughness of the new Xterra but forgot to get a permit. See, the "off-road adventure" was to take place at the J.W. Corbett Wildlife Management Area in Palm Beach County, Florida, which doesn't take kindly to "adventures" that are "off" the dirt "roads" that are marked for driving. Park managers kept a close eye on the team of Xterra drivers to ensure that all rules were followed. Nissan's manager of corporate communications, Steve Parrett, just wanted to give the testers somewhere nice to drive. "We're an environmentally conscious company," Parrett said. "We were driving on a marked trail doing what any other public citizen is allowed to do." The environmentalists were out in force calling the PR trip "blatant commercialization" of the protected lands.