Last month, Nissan had no hybrid models for sale in America. Zip, zilch, nada. Quite the position to be in for the brand that once made an Altima Hybrid and a Pathfinder Hybrid. However, that’s about to change. A Nissan Rogue Plug-In Hybrid is coming in hot, just a year after Nissan announced its intention to sell an electrified compact crossover stateside. So, how did Nissan get a plug-in hybrid to market so quickly? With two scoops of help from Mitsubishi, of course.
See, thanks to the magic of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, the current Mitsubishi Outlander rides on the same platform as the Nissan Rogue and is available as a surprisingly good plug-in hybrid. Instead of Nissan spending huge money and time on developing its own plug-in hybrid system, the brand’s decided to fast-track things by borrowing from its business partner. The thing is, like Mitsubishi’s Renault-based European-market models, Nissan has basically adopted the Outlander PHEV wholesale.
On first glance, it’s apparent Nissan has changed the faux grille, the cap on the tailgate, the badges and … that’s about it. Okay, so it appears to be rocking facelift Outlander taillights with red lenses rather than clear ones, but otherwise? This is unmistakably a Mitsubishi. The regular Rogue doesn’t even share the same surfacing as this thing. While changing plastic parts is generally a cheap and quick way of hurrying a rebadge into showrooms, there’s a whiff of old GM about the process.
Under the hood, it’s all Mitsubishi. You get the same 2.4-liter 4B12 naturally-aspirated inline-four, same motor setup, same 20 kWh lithium-ion battery pack as the pre-facelift model. Actually, it’s not quite all the same. The Outlander PHEV can DC fast charge through a CHAdeMO connector, while the Rogue Plug-In Hybrid makes no such claims. Plus, the Outlander is getting a slightly larger battery pack for 2026, so that’ll likely tip the scales. Either way, Nissan claims the Rogue Plug-In Hybrid can do 38 miles on a charge before the gasoline engine kicks in, which sounds about right because it’s exactly what the Outlander PHEV can do.
Inside, the gauge cluster has been subtly reskinned in a grey-green hue, the steering wheel airbag has a Nissan badge on it, and that’s the extent of the changes. That’s no huge hardship because the cabin of a megaspec Outlander PHEV is a nice place to be with quilted textiles, plenty of buttons, an occasional use third row, and toys like a panoramic moonroof and wireless smartphone charging. Still, the updated 2026 Outlander PHEV will also get a range of Yamaha audio systems, which means the Bose setup in the Rogue Plug-in Hybrid will technically be a downgrade. That’s a bit disappointing, especially since Nissan’s plug-in will only be available in SL and Platinum trims, or near-loaded and loaded.
But will this rebadge gambit pay off for Nissan? Ideally, the Rogue Plug-in Hybrid will need to sell at a substantial discount because not only is the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV available in cheaper trims and getting a bigger battery pack for 2026, but it also comes with a decade-long powertrain warranty. Oh, and if you’re okay with the pre-facelift model and the smaller battery pack, Mitsubishi is throwing incentives at it like zero percent financing for five years and a $1,000 rebate if you either drive a Mitsubishi or drive a car that isn’t a Mitsubishi.
So, on the face of things, the Nissan Rogue Plug-in Hybrid is a Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV with fewer available speakers, no boast of DC fast charging, no true base trim level, and the pre-facelift 20 kWh battery pack. If it gets Nissan’s standard powertrain warranty, it’ll also have about half the time and 40,000 fewer miles on the powertrain warranty. While it’s sure to be a good car because the Outlander PHEV is great family transportation, it seems like this Rogue may be a hard sell to those with a local Mitsubishi dealer. Still, we’ll have to wait for pricing to drop before making the call. Considering it’s expected to reach showrooms early next year, we won’t be twiddling our thumbs for long.
Top graphic image: Nissan
A lazy rebadge for sure, but it does look pretty nice. And I find it hard to believe that a Nissan crossover buyer will care if the price is right.
Nitsubishi?
Nissabishi?
Mitsubissan?
We get a hybrid X-Trail here – which I thought was identical to the Rogue? I think it has some bizarre system where the petrol engine acts as a generator and its driven by an electric motor and yet manages to use more fuel than a RAV4 hybrid.
That’s e-Power. Which is what the folks around here call a range extended EV.
Range Extended EVs have 30+ kWh batteries and can be driven on EV power alone for hundreds of miles.
The e-power system has an extremely small 1.1 kWh battery and requires additional power from the ICE to provide torque to the electric motors. EV drive is only possible at low speeds and very short distances (less than 1 km).
Hmm, no. The engine in e-Power does not provide any drive power at all. It exists solely to charge the battery.
ePower is something different entirely. It’s not an EREV because, well, it has no EV range whatsoever. And it’s not really a hybrid because the ICE doesn’t drive the wheels. It’s basically like a diesel-electric locomotive with a prime-mover and a generator instead of a geared transmission. Which means it drives like a pure EV yet gets worse mileage than a traditional hybrid thanks to efficiency losses.
Googling isn’t as good as it used to be, but it’s still not hard.
https://www.nissan-global.com/EN/INNOVATION/TECHNOLOGY/ARCHIVE/E_POWER/
“The system can freely control engine start timing because the engine is not directly connected to the wheels.”
I thought the whole point of the partnership was for exactly this. We just need a cheap renoult clio badged as a mitsubishi in exchange!
A proper rebadge is changing the front and rear bumper/lights to add more brand identity.
Even Mitsubishi and Dodge put in more effort in the rebadged Mirage called the Dodge Attitude.
https://s1.cdn.autoevolution.com/images/news/2015-dodge-attitude-is-a-reskinned-mitsubishi-mirage-photo-gallery-91780_1.jpg
Dude, you aren’t going believe this…
https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/mitsubishi-colt-back-sale-europe-rebadged-renault-clio
nice! wish we got it in the states!
Yeah, you most likely wont get it. But it’s exactly the same bare minimum effort rebadging.
The Outlander has to be the fugliest auto currently for sale in the US.
I audibly chuckled when I read the 2.4L part. I HAVE THAT ENGINE. The 4B12’s been kicking around for what, 16 years now?
At least I can personally confirm that it’s a stout little stinker.
In my book, the laziest rebadge imaginable still goes to the Chevy/GMC Subruban. So lazy that it took them 62 years to come up with the name Yukon XL, which itself was a lazy way to name a longer Yukon.
Used to be common. 95% of people cant tell an accord from a camry. I dont see a problem.
A neat differentiator would be trading the third-row for an underfloor spare but I don’t think there’s enough space horizontally anyway given how that bench folds.
Otherwise, having a Nissan dealer network that’s larger than Mitsubishi is all I got for pros on this.
Is this worse than the VW Routan?
Is anything worse than a VW Routan? I guess maybe this is, we won’t see a washed up Brook Sheilds pushing it in TV commercials.
I’ve looked pretty seriously at the Outlander as a PHEV family car, but it falls just short in a couple of categories. Maybe this new Nissan version will fix those problems?? /s
Also, this made me chuckle:
I guess this means if this is your first car you’re out of luck?
Are we maybe entering the Japanese malaise era? They don’t have any overly compelling evs, infiniti and acura are kinda jokes, and many of the manufacturers are struggling. Maybe the difference is that they’re actually making good cars?
So obviously a Mitsubishi with that face. Not saying that’s a bad thing, but if the Kicks is based on the Sentra (?), is the regular Rogue based on the Altima? Not sure I really know quite enough about Mitsubishis current offerings to have an opinion, but I’m not wild about how they look when I see them around town occassionally.
I want Nissan to survive and prosper in America, in part because they usually seem to offer some affordable vehicles in this day and age of $50K average prices. I wish they’d take a chance and bring us the Micra EV at the very least (a Renault 5) and maybe even something smaller and Twingo-based, at least in urban markets. But I doubt it’s going to happen.
Hyundai/Kia really seem to be eating Nissan’s cake in small, value-for-money cars. Have you seen Hyundai’s Inster (aka Casper in S. Korea). It’s not exactly lovely to look at (reminds me of an upsized LeCar, or of Hyundai’s current Venue) but every single review I’ve seen marvels at its packaging, specs, and refinement for the money (starting at the equivalent of $23.5K). Here’s a link to Hyundai’s own announcement: https://www.hyundai.com/worldwide/en/newsroom/detail/hyundai-inster-new-a-segment-sub-compact-ev-delivers-unique-design-with-segment-leading-range-and-versatility-0000000788 but there are a zillion enthusiastic reviews on Youtube if you’re curious.
A 6’6″ person can sit behind a 6’6″ driver and there’s still some usable trunk space left. It even comes in some interesting colors. I heard that there are at least two of these currently being driven around southern California for testing, though that’s no assurance that they’ll come to market here. But if they do, without a price bump from what Euopeans pay for it, I think a lot of folks will happily deal with the blocky looks.
Nissan: stop playing catch-up and bring Americans something good from your worldwide portfolio!
I believe the Inster (Casper lol) is even smaller than the Venue which is why we’d never see it in America. The Venue is bordering on “smallest anyone will stand to buy in the US.” I’d buy it, the Inster, that is, but I also fear buying any Hyundai/Kia here in Philadelphia. I still don’t know if the whole stolen Hyundai/Kia thing is a thing of the past or if its resolved or would I risk getting a vandalized car after it was found to be unsteal-able.
This used to be normal. Not just at GM but Ford and Mopar. The difference between a Dodge Omni and a Plymouth Horizon was the difference between diddly and squat. You’d buy from whatever dealer offered you a better deal.
Yeah, but the problem with badge engineering in the same market, by the same manufacturer means that they are pitting dealer against dealer in a crowded market.
Yes.
Mitsubishi has 300 US dealers. Nissan has over a thousand. If anything this might help Mitsubishi to actually start building USDM Outlanders in volumes worth the cost of the import tariff.
GM and Chrysler went bankrupt and Ford was only saved by a many billion dollar federal bailout. The lesson after sharing platforms with distinctive sheetmetal is OK within limits but just swapping the badges and grill is a sign of desperation. (Which matches Nissan’s position as it teeters on the edge of bankruptcy again)
The Rogue is supposed to be refreshed with their e-Power hybrid powertrain next year at their US plant. Originally the PHEV version of it was supposed to launch first, but due to the end of the tax credits they delayed/canceled the PHEV version of that, to instead bring forward production of the FHEV model. Given that context, it makes more sense why they’d effectively give the Outlander PHEV wider availability with Nissan’s bigger dealer network for a couple years.
Woof. What a sad company Nissan has become.
I get it, lazy rebadge but this is the equivalent of expanding your product availability to Walmart or another big store chain.
I don’t have an issue with this.
It’s not like the ‘real Nissan’ Rogue is such a fantastic vehicle or ‘Rogue’ is such a revered/storied model.
In my view, the new Mitsu Eclipse Cross is much more offensive when it comes to slapping a storied model name onto yet another CUV.
So be thankful Nissan didn’t call it “the new 240sx” or “the new 240Z” or something like that.
And I can see this being beneficial for both Nissan and Mitsubishi for the simple reason that Nissan dealers cover areas that Mitsubishi dealers don’t cover well.
Now if they’d just do something about that box of cheap rubber bands that they call a “transmission”. You know, maybe use actual gears instead. 😛