Details Emerge of Next Nissan Rogue Sport

Given that Nissan finds itself in dire financial straits, an updated utility vehicle line seems like the best way to boost sales and revenue. Having already finished revamping the bulk of its passenger car lineup and its Titan and Titan XD full-size trucks, the automaker’s attention is now turning to its CUVs.

A report out of Britain casts some light on a seldom-mentioned Nissan crossover while also calling into question changes planned for another model.

As reported by Autocar, the Qashqai, known to Americans as the Rogue Sport, is being put on the fast track for a fall launch. Playing second fiddle to the larger Rogue in this market, the Qashqai is Nissan’s best selling model in Europe. It also maintains its overseas name in the Canadian market.

The report claims the Qashqai will not gain a new Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance platform for the coming 2021 model; rather, it will soldier on with restyled sheet metal (inspired by the IMQ concept vehicle) and a tweaked CMF platform. It shares that platform with the current Rogue, which is expected to gain alliance architecture for the coming model year.

While the anticipated powerplant in the next-generation Rogue is a 2.5-liter belatedly fitted with direct injection, the Qashqai is said to carry two hybridized powertrains for the European market. One is an e-Power mill — a small, continuously running gasoline engine that generates power for an electric drive motor. The other is a plug-in hybrid system built with Mitsubishi’s help.

e-Power, available in the Japanese-market Note for some time, hasn’t shown up in Nissan’s North American lineup. At last report, engineers were busy adapting it to handle larger vehicles and greater loads.

With recent news pointing to a potential model cull and a continued trend of fewer build configurations among new Nissan models, it’s difficult to see such power variety coming stateside. Aspirations of playing green tech leader fail to jibe with the grim reality of falling U.S. sales and prodigious cost-cutting. Then again, it’s a way to get noticed in a crowded field. Currently, the Rogue Sport carries a sole 2.0-liter four-cylinder making 141 horsepower and 147 lb-ft of torque.

As Nissan doesn’t split U.S. Rogue Sport sales from its Rogue tally, it’s not possible to gauge the model’s trajectory in the United States. In Canada, where a base Qashqai can still be had with a manual transmission, the model fell 5.8 percent in 2019, compared to the Rogue’s 8.8-percent drop. Combined Rogue sales sank 15 percent in the U.S.

[Image: Nissan]