Many were baffled when Nissan announced last fall that it would begin selling a rebadged version of the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, starting with the 2026 model year. While automakers selling a rival’s vehicle isn’t a new or even rare phenomenon in the auto industry, it was odd that Nissan didn’t make any real effort to differentiate its version of the Outlander PHEV from Mitsubishi’s, save for a few swapped badges and a name change to Nissan Rogue PHEV.
Now, we have a bit more of the story that, among other things, confirms the plug-in Rogue is already being canceled despite only launching a few months ago. And Nissan says it’s happening soon.
Rogue PHEV A One-And-Done
Red 2026 Nissan Rogue PHEV front 3/4 angle in red while parkedNissan
Speaking to CarBuzz and other journalists this week, Nissan’s product planning chief for the Americas, Ponz Pandikuthira, said the Rogue PHEV will most likely be phased out after 2026 to make way for the new 2027 Nissan Rogue Hybrid e-Power. Pandikuthira had previously said he wasn’t sure whether the two electrified SUVs would co-exist, but based on his latest comments, the Mitsubishi rebadge, currently the only plug-in hybrid in Nissan’s US lineup, is effectively dead.
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Furthermore, Pandikuthira explained why the Rogue was a minimum-effort Nissan rebadge. Dealerships were screaming for a hybrid vehicle to get foot traffic into showrooms, and rebadging the Outlander PHEV was the quickest way to do that. Mitsubishi is an alliance partner of Nissan, along with Renault, and the two Japanese automakers already share platforms and vehicles in other markets, while also having previously announced plans to jointly develop a midsize pickup for the Americas.
“So we did whatever we could to accelerate bringing a hybrid vehicle into the lineup, and the fastest way to do that was to work with our partner, Mitsubishi, and make a Nissan version. You don’t even make an attempt to cover that up. It’s clearly a badge engineering solution. It’s just to drive traffic.”
Ponz PandikuthiraNissan
Pandikuthira said the Rogue PHEV was always going to be a stopgap measure until Nissan could get its own electrified SUV into showrooms, and as a result, he said the automaker isn’t expecting to sell too many, adding that he thinks only a few thousand will be sold.
A Different Kind Of Hybrid
2027 nissan rogue hybrid e-power live imageGerhard Horn / CarBuzz / Valnet
The new Nissan Rogue Hybrid e-Power, which is expected to reach showrooms late this year, is a very different type of hybrid from something like a Toyota Prius or the Rogue PHEV. Nissan’s e-Power models are essentially electric cars that skip a large, expensive battery in favor of a smaller unit and pack an internal-combustion engine that acts purely as a generator, similar to an extended-range EV (EREV).
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The generated electricity keeps the small battery topped up, meaning no plug-in charging is required. However, in certain cases, the generated electricity can also be used to directly power the car’s electric motors, such as during hard acceleration, bypassing the battery. The result is the efficiency and driving feel of an EV, but without the range anxiety. And since the engine operates only as a generator, it will run most of the time at an rpm level optimized for efficiency and smoothness.
Nissan Qashqai e-POWERNissan
Nissan hasn’t given full details on the Rogue Hybrid e-Power yet, but the vehicle is essentially an updated version of the Nissan X-Trail e-Power sold overseas, which uses an advanced 1.5-liter three-cylinder engine to charge a 1.8-kilowatt-hour battery and is rated at a peak 187 horsepower and 243 pound-feet of torque. Expect similar figures for the new Rogue Hybrid e-Power.
As for the Mitsubishi-sourced Rogue PHEV, don’t be surprised if it’s gone by the end of the year.
