Over the past seven years, two things have happened in the car world: Hybrids have exploded in popularity, and Nissan hasn’t offered a single normal hybrid in America. Mind you, it’s not like many people noticed the last Nissan Rogue Hybrid. Not only was it sold for just two model years, most of America couldn’t buy it at all. Nissan only offered this 176-horsepower electrified crossover in select states, making it a relatively niche proposition. However, the 2027 model year brings with it the new Nissan Rogue ePower that’s shaking off the continuously variable transmission once and for all.
Let’s start with the big news: The Nissan Rogue ePower, on sale later this year, uses a parallel hybrid setup that Nissan calls ePower. It’s been on sale around the globe for years now, and the premise is simple: the engine simply acts as a generator and an electric motor on each axle drives the wheels. Like any other normal non-plug-in hybrid, there’s a small battery pack to store energy generated by either the engine or regenerative braking, but that’s about it for extra components. No clutch to connect the engine to the wheels, no planetary gears, no transmission at all. It sounds like one smooth way to ditch the Xtronic CVT’s reputation for flimsiness, although key specifications like power, engine size, battery capacity, and fuel economy haven’t been released yet.
While the outgoing Nissan Rogue was basically the second C-segment crossover to adopt a split headlamp treatment, this fourth-generation model is over it. Instead, it gets chevron-shaped clusters either side of a glossy black grille. Admittedly, there is a whiff of supersized Lexus Darth Vader-face to the grille’s general graphic, and some Kia Sportage who-stole-my-face? to the sheer size of it, but the various hexagonal inner elements help deflect from that.
Around the side, the next Nissan Rogue continues to shake off the image of old with some rather daring surfacing. That harsh diagonal line down the quarter panel and door almost make this crossover look like it’s molting, with similar angularity to the front fenders attempting to balance things. Love it or hate it, this thing won’t be confused for its predecessor in a parking lot.
Actually, context might be the most fascinating thing about the new Nissan Rogue because the outgoing model was something of a weather vane. While competitors’ next-generation design freezes were likely in place when Nissan’s third-generation compact crossover went on sale in 2020, it was one of the first compact crossovers to get markedly more blocky. From Chevrolet to Toyota, almost everyone else seemed to follow. The big break from this trend? The chrome-faced, geometrically-surfaced Hyundai Tucson. Come to think of it, maybe the weather vane’s changed.
There’s still a lot we don’t know about the new Nissan Rogue ePower. What the interior’s like, how powerful it is, what sort of fuel economy is expected, and how much it will cost. However, by ditching the CVT and going hybrid, Nissan will finally have a rival for the new Toyota RAV4, the Honda CR-V Hybrid, the Hyundai Tucson Hybrid, and the Kia Sportage Hybrid. This thing might be late to the party, but it’s still exactly what Nissan needed.
Top graphic image: Nissan
Give me some knobs and buttons instead of just a big, fat touchscreen and I might actually walk into a Nissan dealership to take a look.
You need look no further than the interior of the new Leaf to imagine where the interior design of this Rogue is heading.
Seems dumb. Just license the best hybrid tech from Toyota/Ford and do it properly. Ford’s barely even using it at the moment. Be interesting to see what this gets for fuel economy in the real world vs. the performance on offer. My bet it it’s either notably worse, notably slower, or both.
I’m sure I will get stuck with one as a rental eventually. Yeah.
It seems weird that you have this setup where you have a battery but it can only charge from the engine, there is no option to plug it in at all. I get that not everyone can or wants to charge a car at home, but this eliminates the car as an option for people who do. They don’t even list the battery size on the spec sheet, just that epower option is a bunch heavier than the regular one.
Buy this petrol powered EV that you can’t charge from your solar panels. Simply go to a petrol station and.. oh. Oh no.
I feel you’re getting hung up on the series hybrid nature of this car. The current ePower system in the rest of the world has a roughly 2 kWh battery back. No reason to assume this next generation ePower will deviate much from this. Too small to make it worth it to add a plug. No one is asking to plug in their RAV4 or CR-V hybrids.
The series hybrid system is unlikely to be more efficient than Toyota or Honda’s hybrids at highway speeds, but maybe it’s an acceptable compromise to effectively not have a transmission at all and thus not have it be a source or unreliability.
If the Rogue beats the RAV4 hybrid in real world highway MPGs, it’ll likely be due to the latest RAV4’s notably worse aerodynamics than the previous gen rather than the Rogue’s powertrain.
Not terrible at all. I rented a current model base Rogue over the holidays and it was perfectly inoffensive and actually quite nice to drive and be in. Nothing exciting but that wasn’t what I was looking for either. If it makes good mpgs and doesn’t have the (what seems to be improving anyway) stigma of its past CVT issues then that’s all the better. Without Hyundai/Kia’s dealership baggage and Toyota’s take it or leave it approach this could be a very big success amongst those who just want a reasonably priced, efficient vehicle to get through the daily grind.
Typo:
“Let’s start with the big news: The Nissan Rogue ePower, on sale later this year, uses a parallel hybrid setup that Nissan calls ePower.”
It should say series hybrid, not parallel.
I guess this is what passes for attractive nowadays, but I don’t think it’s almost interesting. I’d like to see Nissan succeed and this isn’t a bad sign.
It’s okay, I guess. It’s no XTERRA LIKE YOU KINDA HINTED IT WOULD BE AND NOW I HAVE TO GO SCREAM INTO A PILLOW FOR AN HOUR, but I suppose it’s fine GODAMMIT I WANTED A NEW XTERRA AAARGH WHY CAN’T WE HAVE NICE THINGS I KNEW NOTHING GOOD COULD HAPPEN ON THE 13TH for its intended audience XTERRA! I WANTED AN XTERRA! who will appreciate the efficiency and distinctive styling of this perfectly cromulent hybrid crossover-y thing.
So what are your true feelings about the XTerra? Sounds like you might not be a fan.
Maybe next time DialXforXTerra.
They actually released teaser pics of a new XTerra and said it’d have an all-new V6 and V6 hybrid as engine options.
I….kind of like it?
Not bad.
Not bad at all.