Nissan Rogue Hybrid Imminent, Qashqai Replacing Rogue Select
Nissan will add a hybrid powertrain to the Rogue and bring the smaller, European Qashqai to the U.S., AutoGuide is reporting.
A few days ago, we reported that Nissan would be ending production of the last-generation Rogue in Japan, which is sold as the Rogue Select in the United States. Now it appears the Qashqai will effectively replace the Rogue Select in Nissan’s lineup, giving the Japanese automaker another small crossover to sell stateside.
And Nissan is selling the snot out of crossovers in the U.S.
Nissan made rumblings about a hybrid Rogue back in April and it believes the already huge market hasn’t yet been tapped.
“We haven’t hit the ceiling yet. We have more opportunity there if we can get our dealers more [crossovers],” Fred Diaz said, Nissan’s senior vice president of U.S. sales, said according to AutoGuide.
The Qashqai is built on a similar platform as the Rogue, but is 10 inches shorter, and also sports a 1.6-liter four-cylinder that may or may not make the ride over to the states.
No word yet on whether Canada will be getting the Qashqai.
In case you’re wondering:
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This is a good move. Qashqais were all over the place in Panama when I was down there last. Also, relative to their competition, they're fairly handsome in the flesh.
Good move by Nissan. Demand for compact SUV is still rising and the Quashqai is an great (if not unpronounceable) way to meet it.
Holy latte hipster junction, Batman! Now there's an on-trend commercial! I love my new Kash-Cow! ...I want to punch everyone in there, with some localvore sourced PBA-free gloves on. So this is the HRV competitor. I'll say this, it's better looking than the HRV. I saw my first one this past weekend, and it caught my eye in all black. It looks rather cheap and dated to my eye, like it was conceived in 2004. By Hyundai.
IMHO, Qashqai is too close to the word "quash", which probably won't go over well with CUV buyers, who apparently live in fear of being "quashed" on the roadways by semis or even larger more expensive SUVs. How about the Xterra II?