Nissan is taking a smart and gradual approach to the electrification of its future vehicles. The Japanese automaker plans to introduce electric versions of its popular Juke, Rogue, and Rogue Sport models in 2025 to make them more familiar to consumers. The decision to electrify existing models is based on the success of Nissan’s e-Power hybrid powertrain, which helped boost Qashqai (Rogue Sport in America) sales significantly last year.
Unlike typical plug-in hybrids, the Qashqai e-Power hybrid uses an internal combustion engine (ICE) to power the battery, which, in turn, powers the electric motor. This unique hybrid system is also used by Audi to power its electric Dakar Rally competitor. Nissan’s European boss, Guillaume Cartier, sees the e-Power hybrid powertrain as a crucial step toward the company’s eventual goal of going fully electric in the 2030s.
See also: What we know so far about Nissan Juke Hybrid
“We go in a transition manner, in a smart manner, with e-Power, then to BEV,” said Cartier. “We’re just launching e-Power [now]. We need to take the benefit of it on Qashqai. We have evolved, so this is something that it’s natural to look at, which would be the future.”
Nissan aims to have EVs represent more than half of its sales by 2030. To achieve this goal, the company plans to rely on electrification to make its less popular X-Trail (Rogue in America) more interesting. Only 2,380 Rogues were sold in Europe in 2021, while the Nissan Ariya, which wasn’t even available for an entire year, sold 3,182 units. This shows that there is an appetite for EVs in Europe, possibly due to the region’s strict legislation.
The Rogue and Rogue Sport EV will likely ride on the Common Module Family (CMF) platform designed by the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, which Nissan currently uses for the Ariya. The use of a known product like the Rogue and Rogue Sport for an electric vehicle may make consumers more willing to adopt EVs.
See also: Nissan kick-starts production of Qashqai e-Power and Juke Hybrid in Sunderand
This new strategy aligns with what Alfonso Albaisa, Nissan’s senior vice president of global design, told CarBuzz at the 2022 New York Motor Show. He said he was excited to move away from building standalone EVs like the Leaf and Ariya and moving on to electrifying legacy models like the Pathfinder, Frontier, and even the Z. With this approach, Nissan hopes to make a smooth transition to electric vehicles while keeping its customers happy with familiar models that they already know and love.
