Necessity is the mother of invention if you’re creative, but for the motherless and unoriginal, there’s always necessity’s deadbeat dad: Badge-engineering. Nissan is taking it to the furthest extremes, and it seems like basically every new vehicle is going to be some sort of Rogue.
This insight comes from the man himself, Nissan CEO Ivan Espinosa, who has had to go out and explain to reporters how his company has a future, and what that future might be. Having been thwacked by tariffs, Nissan is just one of many companies rethinking how they operate. The Morning Dump can relate!
You can add the Dutch government to the list. After almost blowing up global car manufacturing, the Dutch are reconsidering how much they want to be responsible for all that misery. Ford and Honda are yet again in the middle of big recalls, but there’s one big difference for Ford.
And Polestar, which is a car company that still exists, is hoping that adding Google Gemini to its cars will help sell people on the idea of owning a Polestar. Sure..
An Infiniti Rogue Is Nigh, Probably
Dashboard fungus aside, the Infiniti FX45 is one of my all-time favorite SUVs. It represents a time when Infiniti was feeling itself, having sort of won a bunch of F1 championships and was otherwise differentiating itself from Lexus with handsome and slightly sportier offerings.
These days I’m not entirely sure what Infiniti stands for, although I’m sure adding a Nissan Rogue derivative probably isn’t going to significantly damage what little reputation the brand has left. A recent theme of TMD is just “What are Japanese automakers going to do?” Toyota seems fine, and Honda is currently not in an entirely precarious position, although even Honda has a mind for the future.
I was clear earlier this week that Nissan’s step-brother, Mitsubishi, should get super weird. Right now, that mostly means providing Nissan with the laziest badge-engineering ever to create the Nissan Rogue PHEV. One person’s “lazy” is another person’s “efficient,” and if you can be one thing, be efficient.
Ok, so certain Mitsubishis are Nissan Rogues. Perhaps certain Hondas could just be Nissan Rogues, as demonstrated by the topshot in last week’s TMD. Is there anything else that could be a Nissan Rogue?
According to Nissan boss Ivan Espinosa in this interview with Hans Greimel, Infiniti could also get a Rogue:
How can we bring more volume out of the Rogue in the U.S.? One of the ideas is adding some derivatives.
We will try to maximize the assets that we have there, looking at what more we can do in Smyrna with the Rogue, I think with derivatives and with e-Power.
Like the Infiniti derivative?
This is one of the things we’re exploring. Also, we’re considering how and to what extent we can localize e-Power in the region as well.
The derivative we can share as of now is the Infiniti. This is the one that we’re looking at more seriously. And this is obvious because we have the QX50 and QX55 that are coming to an end. So, this could be replaced by a derivative from the Rogue.
Ok, all this e-Power stuff is about Nissan finally getting into hybrids in the United States. One of the issues is that the e-Power system is more configured for low-speed European and Japanese-style commuting, but that’s being fixed for the latest version, apparently.
Espinosa makes it clear that more and more hybrids will be sold by Nissan and everyone.
Honestly, if you’d have told me that there was a Rogue-based Infiniti, I’d have said “Yes, of course, the QXmumblemumble.” It turns out the QX60, which was formerly… something with a “J” I think… is built on Nissan’s D-platform, like the Pathfinder, whereas the CMF-C/D platform somehow doesn’t have an Infiniti derivative.
While the Rogue isn’t considered by many even the fifth-best car in its class, it’s a relatively affordable option and something already being built in the United States. I’m ultimately more interested in derivatives. Given that no one cares about greenhouse gases anymore, could we get a GT-R-powered Rogue? What about a Toyota bB Open Deck style convertible truck? Let’s get creative, folks.
The Dutch Government Would No Longer Like To Hold This Feces-Covered Toddler
What’s most interesting to me about the whole potential Nexperia kerfuffle is that, while many people might agree with the Dutch government that Chinese control of this important chip company is worth monitoring, almost no one had any interest in a fight over it.
There’s just too much fatigue after the pandemic, the resulting chip shortage, tariffs, and the collapse of consumer sentiment. It’s why so many people are welcoming the news that the Dutch government has decided to remove its control over the Sino-Dutch chipmaker, which set into motion fears that chips might not be available to make cars.
Does this mean that everyone is happy? No. The company is still at war with itself, reports Nikkei Asia, and everyone is fine with that so long as the company keeps selling chips:
Although the move will give some comfort to customers that the clash over Nexperia between China and the Netherlands is easing, supply chain issues have not yet been resolved.
Nor has a dispute between Nexperia’s European headquarters and its Chinese parent Wingtech 600745.SS which was sparked by the Dutch state taking control of Nexperia on September 30.
Making China the world’s factory continues to have serious consequences.
Ford And Honda Recalls Highlight The Importance Of OTA Updates
Ford is recalling more than 200,000 of its Bronco and Brono Sport SUVs for instrument panels that might just stop working. This applies to 2025 and 2026 models. The good news, at least, is that NHTSA says the remedy is a software update over-the-air. Given how often Ford has had to recall cars, being able to do this electronically is a huge cost savings.
What about Honda? It’s also recalling more than 200,000 cars, this time all Honda Accord Hybrids built between 2023 and 2025. The software issue for these vehicles is a failure of the integrated control module, which could result in loss of drive power. That’s bad.
Honda, though, can’t issue an OTA update for those Accords, meaning that customers will have to bring their cars into the dealer.
Do American Consumers Want AI Controls In Their Car?
Polestar, a company I’m like 67% sure still sells cars in the United States, is out with news that it’s teaming up with Google to add Google Gemini voice assistant. From a press release:
Sid Odedra, Head of UI/UX at Polestar, says: “Our collaboration with Google is a great example of how we continue to evolve the digital experience in our cars. Gemini brings the next generation of AI voice interaction into the car, and we’re excited to give a first look at how it will enhance the driving experience.”
Gemini is an upgrade from Google Assistant with generative AI integrated, enabling users to have a more natural conversation with their Polestar. In addition to simple commands, users can expand their interaction with Gemini Live. With a simple prompt: “Hey Google, let’s talk”, users can activate the new feature, which enables them to brainstorm aloud, ask follow-up questions, and access new learning opportunities on the go. Gemini will replace the current Google Assistant in all Polestar cars.
Yeah, I’d love to talk to Google and tell it how much it’s screwing up news websites, but I don’t think my Polestar would give me a good answer for why Google is doing that. Based on my experience trying to use Gemini in Google Docs, I imagine talking to your Polestar will be something like this:
Me: Hey Google, let’s talk!
Polestar: Sure, what’s going on Matt? How can I help you?
Me: Sure, can you explain to me how companies like NVIDIA investing in companies like Open AI who then in turn buy more chips from companies like NVIDIA and build these massive power-sucking data centers isn’t creating some sort of terrible, circular logic-fueled bubble that’s going to blow up eventually?
Polestar: I’m sorry, Gemini isn’t working now, would you like me to draw a picture of Jason made to look like he’s a furry monster from a Miyazaki film?
Me: Can you just turn on the radio?
Polestar: I’m sorry, Gemini isn’t working now.
Chinese consumers seem to love AI in-car assistance, which is why every automaker there is rushing to get it into their cars, but I’m not sure how it’ll play in the West.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
Sometimes, all you need is a guitar. Here’s Soccer Mommy with “Shotgun.”
The Big Question
What would be the coolest Rogue derivative? Who else should make a Rogue?
Top photo: Infiniti/Nissan
I live in FL…where the every other car is already a Nissan Rogue – usually with a donut spare and veritable orchard of tree air fresheners. If Nissan partnered with Kia to resurrect the Soul in a shortened Rogue platform, they would own the sub-prime car market here.
Soccer Mommy is definitely an Autopian pick: She wrote a song called “Driver” after all. Based on the nom de plume, I figured she has a minivan. Not a Sienna nut more akin to Project Krässler.
Lastly, regarding the Ford recall: can we please put real gauges back in cars? Airplanes have had glass cockpits for years, but they still have analog backup gauges in case of failure.
Big Rogue Energy is rapidly displacing Big Altima Energy.
Agreed – I have never had to have a software update to keep the gauges working in any of the myriad cars I have had. And that’s even with the fact that for most cars for the past 20-30+ years all the gauges are electronic anyway!
As an IT engineer – “software defined” almost everything usually sucks.
Can donut spares double as hemorrhoid cushions, because that would make sense in Florida
If there’s one vehicle that has brought Nissan to the brink of existence, it is the Rogue.
They need to eliminate the nameplate and it’s notorious garbage scam of a transmission immediately.
Instead, of course they’re doing the opposite.
Maybe they’re trying to run the company into the ground so they can receive a nice government bail out? It’s not the worst financial plan, especially when compared to trying save a business by doubling down on the thing that is causing it to fail.
Mitsuoka could do something polarizing with it. Maybe a something like an old defender or other range rover if that hasn’t already been played out. Or a g wagon. I suppose some kind of baby wagoneer or 4 door scout or travelall thing. Why not a thing. Or vw could bring out the thing based on a chopped up rogue on a diet though I suppose they could also do some something with the internationals too
Give the Rogue two inches of lift, knobbly tires, a locking center diff, and a nose trim/bash plate….
Even just 7-speed automatic…
Yeah, I’d buy that for 35 or so
What if they chopped off 2/3 of the roof and welded the rear doors shut? I might be very interested in a Rogueamino!
I’d be first in line.
Pedantic music critic mode: you don’t put bullets in a shotgun. Normally it’s a shell containing shot of some sort (buck shot, bird shot, etc) or if you want just one projectile it’s called a slug. Bullets go in rifles or handguns.
Lyrically, bullet works better than shell here (kind of like Billy Joel singing about graduations hanging on the wall – should have been diplomas), but the wording really took me out of the moment.
Seemed like a nice enough song otherwise, though all of it seemed a bit mumbled. It was hard to make out most of the lyrics, which is probably why the shotgun/bullet thing stuck out so much.
I’ll shut up now.
Now you got me thinking. If Shotguns are called Shotguns because they fire Shot, why aren’t guns that fire bullets called Bulletguns?
Why do we park in a driveway and drive in a parkway? I’ve never understood that either.
And how much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
You can imagine how disappointed I was the first time I saw a titmouse in person.
And what’s up with Unicorns? They should be called Unihorns.
They are called one-horns just in a different language.
Agricultural lobbyists, obviously.
And why past-tense? If I haven’t used it yet, why isn’t it called a shootgun?
This one I can take a stab at (other than the movie, I’m not much of an expert on groundhogs, AKA woodchucks). It’s not named after the past tense of the verb “shoot”, it’s named after the material it expels – the “shot”.
That’s my best guess anyway. Still doesn’t help with Colin’s questions about why the other one isn’t called a bulletgun, though. “Machine gun” is a bit of a misnomer too, as all guns are machines. And don’t get me started on the “miniball” bullet, which isn’t a ball, and isn’t “mini”. We can thank a French guy for that, so c’est la vie.
It’s almost enough to make a person want to use a blunderbuss on somebody.
“Automatic” and “Semi-Automatic” certainly seem to make the most sense regarding weapons types. Took me awhile to grasp single vs double-action though. In my brain, it made more sense for single-action to mean fewer actions on my part, not the gun’s. Maybe I don’t have as much of an engineering mindset as I thought.
Why is it even called “past-tense”? If it’s already happened, there’s no reason to be nervous.
I’ve always hated caliber. A 50 caliber gun can either mean one that shoots a 0.50″ bullet, or it could be one that shoots an arbitrary sized shell but the barrel length is 50 times the diameter.
Or it’s a Dodge from a Shitbox Showdown. A lot of people seem to hate those too.
Pistols take cartridges. Revolvers, too, IIRC. Caplocks and flintlocks do take bullets, though.
Fair point. Most of what we consider as “bullets” today are actually cartridges, of which the bullet is just one part.
Right, common usage is absolutely “bullets”. I only learned as part of my employment that shotguns load shells that fling (usually) shot, and pistols, revolvers, and rifles load cartridges that fling (usually) bullets.
But, But, It’s a world where we have a badge engineered Honda that’s actually a GM product!!! I recall the good ole days when Isuzu was everyone’s bitch (GM and Honda) and at some point we had a weird GM Toyota crossover….. so now it’s Mitsubishi, which has been Honda’s, Dodge’s and checks notes…. Nissans…
Love Soccer Mommy! My wife and I saw her live a few years ago and had a great time. She sounded great and had a very laid back, not too serious approach to working the crowd that was enjoyable. I’m a big fan of her music, she sits at a good intersection of styles and writes fun catchy songs that you can either enjoy at face value or try to find deeper meaning in. If anything I don’t think she gets enough flowers to be honest.
Anyway Rogue? Uhhhh. I dunno. I had one as a rental recently and was pleasantly surprised. It’s a nice enough little SUV, the interior materials are above average, there’s plenty of space, and somewhat shockingly the driving experience wasn’t terrible. The little 3 cylinder has enough torque that it can get out of its own way. At regular traffic speeds it feels peppy, but once you try to wind it out it really runs out of steam. Also you don’t even notice the CVT which is the best compliment I can give a CVT.
It’s a perfectly cromulent vehicle. If someone told me they were considering one I’d probably go “yeah, that’s a fine car”, which is better than I can say of most Nissans. Anyway, an Infiniti variant sounds incredibly depressing but it’s not that far fetched due to enshitification. Not all that long ago entry level luxury meant rear wheel drive, maybe six cylinders, and some sportiness but those days are long gone.
Getting into a new 3 Series/X3 or similar is pretty firmly a $55,000+ proposition now so what used to be entry level is now mid level and all of these companies have sad, miserable, front wheel drive, borderline hateful little crossovers that start in the high 30s and slap a luxury badge on an econobox. Your initial reaction is probably “but NSane, the CVT” to which I say Acura is saddling all their entry level shit with CVTs now too and people don’t seem to care because I see Integras and now ADXs everywhere.
And honestly it’s probably a better driving experience for normies than the DCTs the Germans throw in everything anyway. Would I personally pay $45,000 for a rebadged Rogue? No, because I’m not an idiot (citation needed). But would some middle management normie who just cracked a $75,000 salary for the first time and wants to #riseandgrind or #sigma or whatever on Tik Tok lease one for $499 a month?
Commentariat, they certainly would. Anyway I’m shocked Polestar is still a thing and saddling their tech monstrosities no one wants with AI that no one wants isn’t going to do a damn thing. In fact I don’t even think anyone wants AI slop outside of the biggest and most antisocial silicone valley dorks.
A Nissan Rogue wrote this comment.
To be fair to Acura, you can get an Integra with a manual.
Yeah, if you’re willing to spend an extra $10,000 on shit you don’t need to “unlock” it
The Ram SRT-10 Rogue.
Mini.
Chinese consumers generally seem to use voice command features in their cars more often. A well tuned AI can understand more natural voice commands so it doesn’t require cumbersome robotic wording to get stuff to work. Chinese cars have enabled commands for several basic functions (roll down windows, open sunroof, turn on heated seats, open frunk), and more usefully, for more advanced settings that they can’t change themselves, they take you straight to the setting in whatever menu it’s in without you having to navigate 583848 menus while driving. I think it’s a key part of why Chinese consumers tolerate/like touchscreen everything, the other major factors being much better software and the use of wayyyy faster processors.
I think there are a couple cultural factors here. Mainly it’s that English isn’t a tonal language so how you say something doesn’t affect the meaning of it at least as far as a computer going by the dictionary is concerned. Chinese is. It’s also a nation of first generation car owners so the car is almost by definition a high tech thing.
This is so annoying of me, but I could not deal with her saying, “I’m a bullet in a shotgun” over and over in that song. Shotguns don’t fire bullets!
Did she say clip instead of magazine?
Jack Ryan: [to himself, imitating Ramius] “Ryan, some things in here don’t react well to bullets.” Yeah, like me. I don’t react well to bullets.
Maybe it’s “pellet?” I’ll tell myself that. I wasn’t impressed enough to re-listen.
The coolest Rogue derivative, or any Nissan for that matter, is something that abandons their garbage CVT. I have nothing against the driving experience of a CVT, in most applications they’re better than the poorly tuned DCTs some automakers tried after abandoning torque converters. What I do, however, have an issue with is the longevity of Nissan’s CVTs. They simply do not last. They seem to go at about 120,000 miles, with many, many documented cases of them going earlier. Then poor owners are left with a $3,000+ repair bill for a car that isn’t worth anything because the used market knows there might be a $3,000+ repair bill at any given time. And now, because they stuck with these CVTs for over a decade Nissan’s reputation is shattered. The rest of the vehicle is fine—it’s pretty hard to screw up an NA I4. Interiors might even be described as nice; but I’m afraid they have done permeant damage by sticking with their transmission.
I dunno if it’d be the coolest, but using the e-Power and Rogue platform to make a competitor of the Ford Maverick would be pretty cool.
Well, not in the example you provided, Matt.
Perhaps is this is better an example why countries should continue to work together, instead, with other countries.
We finally have a name to describe the generic crossover that is covering every car lot: Rogue? Seems faster to say and type. (Sad for the D&D players as that is a cool class.)
Yeah pretty funny that the car named to sound like you’re going against the grain, is going to be the most with the grain thing you can get after the Rav4.
Don’t forget the Maverick. That means there are TWO mass-market cars for sale whose names imply they and their owners are unique and special.
How about the Rogue Rogue? It’s AI powered and completely ignores all driver input and does what it wants.
Would cannibalize Altima sales
It couldn’t be any worse than the average Rogue driver.
They’ve gone Rogue.
Where I live, Infiniti is basically the BHPH luxury brand of choice. Rolling around on donut spares, weaving in an out of traffic at ludicrous speeds. I assume this is what Altima drivers aspire to when they get a pay bump.
I vote we get a Rogue Eau Rouge.
Rouge River Rogue: “Build for Detroit”
(held together with rust, duct tape, and bailing twine)
Don’t do that to my favorite corner ever.
You could have Mitsouko do a 70s land yacht-themed land yacht based on a Rogue and get a Rogue, Rogue, Rogue your Boat, named the Merrily, sold down by the sea.
“Chinese consumers seem to love AI in-car assistance, which is why every automaker there is rushing to get it into their cars, but I’m not sure how it’ll play in the West.”
Not great in some cases: “Government employees told to NOT SPEAK in Chinese EVs!” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH8YzgTTh-g
Apparently, the UK government leased a bunch of Chinese EVs as part of NetZero, and now the Ministry of Defence is warning (with giant stickers in the cars) employees not to speak about classified stuff in the car or connect their smart phones. And there are some parking restrictions as well.
You HAVE to film Jason chatting with a Gemini car for an uncomfortably long amount of time.
Or at least show us the picture it offered to draw…
I figured it’s something close the Paul, the “actually not a werewolf” neighbor in Hotel Transylvania 2
The Rogue being copy and pasted into other vehicles is due to the legacy of Cassian Andor being one of the greatest hero’s of the rebellion.
(Insert anti-rebellion reply from TK421 below.)
They could bring the X-Trail nameplate (Rogue in other countries) more focused on off-road crap added, add a lift, smaller wheels and thick tires, orange accents, a lock mode for the 4WD system, and an external cooler for the CVT transmission.
“With a simple prompt: “Hey Google, let’s talk”, users can activate the new feature, which enables them to brainstorm aloud, ask follow-up questions, and access new learning opportunities on the go. Gemini will replace the current Google Assistant in all Polestar cars.”
Huh. And here I am, just paying attention to the road like an idiot when I could be “accessing new learning opportunities”.
Maybe that’s what the guy in the car in front of me is doing as I’m blowing my horn at him while we sit through the green light…sigh.
Seriously, I talk WAY more to other cars than to my own.
I’m not an AI skeptic by the standards of this place (hell, part of my job is managing utility upgrades for future data centers) but I have to say I’m puzzled by the idea of someone wanting to talk to their car about anything.
If the AI was deeply integrated into the car and could be used as a diagnostic tool for maintenance or repairs and could speak in plain language about the systems of the car, how to troubleshoot, etc. that would be an incredible use of the technology IMO. But just shooting the shit or “accessing learning opportunities on the go” seems like a flop.
We all talk to our cars. Most of what we say when they are having problems can’t be published on this family based website.
But think of all the people who will learn (the hard way) that they should have been paying attention to their driving! I just hope I don’t get to be collateral damage when they do.
My phone, against my will, changed the default “listen to this page” function to a Gemini powered one.
I wanted it to read me, verbatim, the Hagerty article I started while I commuted to work.
Instead, it aggregated the page into some god-awful podcast/radio show style thing where two “hosts” discussed the info on the page.
It took me way longer than it should have to figure out how to switch it back.
Stop trying to make me friends with the technology. I want my little robotic voice to obediently do as I ask, and nothing more.
Maybe it’s different with the younger folks, but my Millennial-ass didn’t have a computer or internet at home until I was a teenager, and I LIKE having a separation between me and technology.
I just think of my google home speaker with google gemini assistant being worse in every way than the previous google assistant.
You mean you’re not looking forward to how your dishwasher might LLM-enabled pontificate about what you had for dinner, and how your next meal should contain more M&Ms, because this AI message was brought to you by Mars?
What would be the coolest Rogue derivative? A NISMO Rouge R with the complete NISMO GT-R drivetrain and suspension underneath it, like the Juke R
Or, a new JukeR.