Nissan needed a hybrid version of the Rogue, well, yesterday. Nearly all of this compact SUV’s competitors are available with some kind of gas-electric powertrain, but Nissan didn’t have its proprietary e-Power series-hybrid system ready for the U.S. yet. So it turned to its partner at Mitsubishi to quickly gin up a Nissan version of the existing Outlander PHEV (remember, the Outlander is based on the Rogue to begin with).
This rushed effort to get some kind of hybrid SUV into Nissan dealerships meant that we ended up with what you see here, the 2026 Rogue plug-in hybrid. It’s a veritable twin of the Outlander PHEV, only with Rogue badges. It’ll do for now, but it’s clearly a stopgap until the next-gen Rogue hybrid arrives—Nissan prefers to call it a “bridge.” Whatever.
Nissan
If the Nissan and Mitsubishi share the same platform, then why doesn’t this Rogue look like a Rogue? The answer comes down to cost and timing. A new 2027 Rogue with a Nissan hybrid system is slated to arrive next year anyway, so Nissan decided it didn’t make sense to spend the extra time and money fitting the Mitsubishi powertrain into the existing Rogue’s body for a model that’s only meant to last a short time anyway.
Nissan
How does the Rogue plug-in hybrid drive? Better than the standard gas-powered Rogue. The Mitsubishi powertrain has a total output of 248 horsepower, which should make it considerably quicker than the 201-hp standard Rogue. The Outlander PHEV reached 60 mph in 6.6 seconds in our testing, which is 1.4 seconds quicker than the turbo-three nonhybrid Rogue could manage. The hybrid is considerably heavier than the non-hybrid due to its battery pack and extra components, and you feel that weight in corners, but it rides nicely and has decently weighted steering.
Like the Mitsubishi, the Rogue PHEV gets a small third-row seat that will fit a couple of kids in a pinch. This is a rarity among compact SUVs, but we figure most owners will keep the wayback seat folded for the extra cargo space. The interior is no different from the Mitsubishi’s, which looked pretty much like the Nissan’s to begin with anyway—you get the idea. The Nissan’s 9.0-inch infotainment screen is slightly smaller, though, because the Rogue doesn’t get the updated Outlander’s larger 12.3-inch touchscreen setup.
The Nissan also doesn’t have the Mitsubishi’s optional DC fast-charging capability, which admittedly uses an outdated ChaDeMo port, so it isn’t all that useful to begin with. But it seems as though the only reasons to choose the Nissan over its sibling are if you live closer to a Nissan dealership or if you can snag a deal on one. We expect pricing to be roughly the same between the two, meaning a starting price somewhere in the high-$40,000 range (the Rogue hybrid will only offer SL and Platinum trim levels, as opposed to the Outlander’s wider lineup of models). But hey, now Nissan can say that it has a hybrid SUV on offer—which counts for something, at least.
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