Yesterday, we ran a story about how the upcoming 2026 Nissan Rogue PHEV isn’t really a Nissan at all, but a hastily-rebadged Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV. That story was written from, well, a somewhat negative perspective. I mean, we called it lazy, and I’m repeating that headline construction here, but I think I have a decidedly different take from the one we published yesterday. It’s not that I don’t agree the re-badging of the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV into the Nissan Rogue PHEV wasn’t lazy; it definitely was. I just happen to think that was a fantastic choice on Nissan’s part.
I said what I said! I’m in complete support of one of the most half-assed rebadging jobs since 1980s GM A-bodies. Sure, I was repulsed by those at the time, and perhaps I still am. That sort of phoned-in re-badging was sort of a well-established and safe thing to disdain back in the day.
Hell, even mainstream publications like Fortune got into it:
But right now? In this particular situation? I have to say I kind of get it, and even more so, I’m not even remotely offended. I mean, yes, Nissan barely got up off the couch for this one; it’s a Mitsubishi Outlander with a Nissan grille:
But here’s the thing: I just don’t care. And, even more so, I don’t think any of the people who are in the market for a plug-in Nissan Rogue will care, either.
Both these cars are on the same basic platform as it is. And let’s not delude ourselves into thinking that Nissan’s current design language is something so precious and wonderful that it can’t be debased in such a manner. It’s very debasable!
Sure, in our article we said
“The regular Rogue doesn’t even share the same surfacing as this thing.”
…and, sure, that’s true, and if you’re a hardcore gearhead who cares about these things like our own Thomas Hundal, who wrote that piece is, then perhaps that matters. I mean, if you’re using the word “surfacing” at all to describe a crossover’s styling, sure, this may mildly sicken you, but the people who are buying Rogues? They don’t care.
They don’t care because why the hell would they care? The Outlander looks about as good as the Rogue. It’s essentially the same size, same volume of space inside, and while it has a C-pillar with a somewhat different angle than the Rogue, from the side and halfway across a Costco parking lot, no one really can tell the difference in these two machines.
I respect Nissan’s acceptance of reality that sometimes good enough is truly good enough, and in no universe would it have made an hors d’oeuvres’ worth of sense for Nissan to pour the money into either integrating the
Outlander’s plug-in hybrid components into the Rogue or designing and building all new more Rogue-like body panels for the Outlander. If the CEO of Nissan okay’d that outlay of funds, I’d think they were an idiot.
Because, again, who really gives a rat’s rectum? The Outlander/Rogue is fine.
And this overall attitude, this could be what saves Nissan, a company I think is worth saving. Well, it could save them if they’re doing one other thing, which is working on any other interesting/compelling/affordable cars at all.
If Nissan becomes a genuinely, even brutally honest company, the kind that can admit that, really, it barely matters what mid-size, mid-price, mid-range crossover people buy because they’re really all about as good as any other, then it justifies a lazy rebrand that saves their already limited resources.
Then they would hopefully put those resources into doing something actually compelling, like a truly affordable yet desirable car or an exciting sports car or a novel take on an SUV or minivan or a reincarnation of the Datsun 510 like they showed at car shows over a decade ago?
Really, they just need something that stands out in some capacity – price, design, performance, utility, whatever – to get back in the game. A PHEV Rogue isn’t going to move any dials anywhere, and so that’s not worth anything over minimal effort.
Nissan absolutely phoned in this one – and I hope that’s a sign that they actually know what they’re doing.
Someone at Nissan is a big Pixies fan “I wanna grow up to be, be a debaser!”
Got me a Mitsu, I want you to know
Slicing up grilles, I want you to know
PHEV so groovy, I want you to know!
Hey Nissan, you could have been selling rebadged CR-Vs if you hadn’t fucked up your own bailout deal from Honda. All you had to do was accept that the company that actually makes money with its cars was going to have more say in the direction of the partnership, but nooooo. You had to go full Big Altima Energy on the deal like one of your customers passing me on the right in the bicycle lane while the faded out temp tags hangs on for dear life.
Holy hell that might be one of the worst own-goals in business history.
I’m way more forgiving about a company being “lazy” when they are rebranding another company’s car as their own vs when GM would introduce a Chevy that was also a Pontiac that was also a Buick and sometimes also a Saturn or a Saab.
In the first case, Mitsubishi has already gone through the trouble of designing a car well enough. Why spend any effort doing it over just for the sake of being different?
In the second case, it feels like GM started with the same car and gaslit us all by insisting it was in fact 4 totally different cars (based on adding/subtracting chrome bits, different wheels, and maybe some different color options).
I thought the laziest rebadge was a new Colt.
Called it yesterday. This is just fine. I pass the local Nissan dealer a few times a week. And completely forgot the local Ford dealer also deals Mitsubishi.
the main reason to go this route as a buyer is dealer availability for warranty coverage. Leaned the hard way that some companies don’t work on brands inside the same parent company file folder and that can bite you in the butt on say a road trip to places outside of big cities.
This – not like they’re incredibly distinct products to begin with. If you covered up the badges on an Outlander and a Rogue and had someone take each for a spin around the block, I think most people would be hard pressed to tell the difference.
I don’t know who asked who – if Nissan asked Mitsu for some PHEVs or Mitsu offered some so they could crank out more of the older tech, but the answer was probably the same: “what the hell, sure.”
One of the worst rebadges of the last 20 years has to be the VW Routan. It was a Chrysler Town and Country without the benefit of the only thing that made those vans okay: stow N go seats.
Always liked that 510ish looking concept coupe and have posted about it a couple of times. I’d be shocked if Nissan brought anything like it to market this far after the fact unfortunately.
The Micra (a Renault 5 EV w/different head/tail lights) is kind of great, but for whatever reason, they’re unlikely to bring it here due to size (it’s not that small, but probably too small for mainstream American market acceptance) plus, they’ve got the new, third-gen Leaf in that approximate price range, when we eventually see it after the battery delay issues get resolved.
In Japan, they’ve got the Elgrande minivan, which I think would compete here with the three or four remaining minivans on the market, but of course that whole segment is much smaller than it used to be, so it’s perhaps not worth the cost and effort on Nissan’s part.
I certainly don’t begrudge Nissan rebadging a Mitsubishi (a car that I regard as cromulent to use an Autopian turn of phrase). TBH though, folks wanting a compact hybrid crossover all seem to want Rav4s and CR-Vs for the most part. To get buyers to spring for a Mitsubishi/Nissan, they’d have to be priced way under the Toyota/Honda offerings, at which point, how much profit will there be to be made?
PS: I only recently noticed that those of us who haven’t uploaded an image now have very retro-looking 8-bitish Space Invadery-styled ships as our avatars. I presume this is a Jason thing, and I like it. 🙂
It’s unlikely to make much of a dent in regular CR-V/RAV sales, but if someone is set on a PHEV, your options are a lot slimmer. The Escape is fading away, H/K has PHEVs in the segment but I’m not sure how available those are.
RAV4 PHEVs are supposedly to become more widely available with the redesigned model, and probably priced similarly, but seems likely they will still have waiting lists. Incentives are a given for Nissan/Mitsu but that’s true of any of the products. Even now the advertised lease in my area for a RAV4 PHEV is over $100/mo higher than an Outlander PHEV, both ’25s.
And the distinguishing feature between Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man is that Ms. Pac-Man has a bow in her head.
Not on the arcade console. Did you check out the legs on Ms. Pac-Man? Yowza!
Someone commented on another thread about how Mitsubishis aren’t desirable.
The PHEV Outlander is, however, one I’ve seen people at work go out and purchase on purpose (avoiding, entirely, the Nissan dealership).
Partly because it’s cheaper, and far easier to get than a RAV4 PHEV, but also that they really liked the car.
The laziest rebadge ever also involved Mitsubishi, when they slapped “Raider” badges on a Dodge Dakota.
Not quite. Unlike this example, the Raider had some unique body work to it.
The Suzuki Equator/Nissan Frontier would like a word with you.
well, in that case the Equator actually looked a bit better and the Frontier has a much more positive following, I considered a used equator with basically the Nismo Package simply because Suzuki was an orphan brand by then and nobody wanted to wade into that water. But I am fine with frontier parts underneath as long as I keep the front end clean I suppose.
you mean when Chrysler slapped DODGE and PLYMOUTH badges on an otherwise unchanged mighty max?
That was kind of common practice for that group. First the Conquest and then perhaps more famously the Neon for every brand. Sans any differentiating equipment or lux levels.
Yesterday I had suggested the Mexican market Dodge Attitude with Hyundai “H” still on it as laziest.
But now I’m thinking of the Mitsu Expo LRV turned Dodge/Plymouth Colt Vista & Eagle Summit wagon that didn’t even get grilles. Just decal badges all around. Like they just cranked them out, closed their eyes, and pointed at different ones to badge a certain way.
Eagle Talon, Plymouth Laser and Mitsubishi Eclipse were kissing cousins for sure for a bit there.
But those cars weren’t just a badge trading exercise. Chrylser and Mitsubishi formed a new joint venture called Diamond Star Motors (DSM), which had some co-engineering and development components as well. You probably know that, but as someone who worshipped the 4G63 I have to call it out.
I think with hybridization, and especially electrification, powertrains all start to feel alike. You can definitely tell a Subaru Boxer from a Ford V8 or a BMW I6. But does anyone really care which turbo 1.5 liter 4-cylinder is in their hybrid? Or even worse, which motor is in their electric car?
I CAN ABSOLUTELY TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TESLA ANDa……..wait, you’re right. Aside from drive wheels.
The Outlander PHEV is actually a pretty competent product that desperately needs exposure in the form of DEALERS.
Seriously, there’s hardly any Mitsubishi dealerships around here anymore. There’s one about 40 miles away and… that’s it? And it’s basically a sketchy used car lot in Mitsubishi dealer clothing.
It’s actually a rare win-win, and while it probably won’t move the needle much for either company, it would be hard to imagine this badge job to be anything other than a sorta-decent success. Right now, that represents progress for Nissan.
Yeah 0% of the people that buy these will know or care, but it’s just the Nissan is the worse deal cause of the shorter warranty.
However there are a lot more Nissan dealers around. In my area there are roughly twice as many Nissan dealers. When you have a dealer closer for warranty and service requirements it makes it a lot easier.
Oh yeah it’s all a win for Nissan. And I’d never recommend anyone buy a new car without a nearby dealer unless they just live away from all dealers, haha!
“from the side and halfway across a Costco parking lot, no one really can tell the difference in these two machines.”
To be honest, it took me a while to realise they were different in the image with the three vehicles and the arrows.
Sometimes anything more than half-assed is just a waste of perfectly good ass.