Nissan has finally brought back hybrid powertrains for the Rogue with the new Plug-In Hybrid variant. Although, it’s pretty clear it’s not a Rogue in the traditional sense. It’s really a Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV with some slight exterior changes. Besides seemingly a little halfhearted, it seems a little strange to use an SUV from Mitsubishi to herald a new hybrid era for Nissan’s model.
It’s even stranger when an E-Power hybrid version of the next-generation Rogue (the thoroughly Nissan one) is barely a year away. Well, as it turns out, the Rogue Plug-In Hybrid is here just to get a hybrid model on sale as soon as possible until the Rogue E-Power arrives, and the plug-in model might not stick around long afterward.
2026 Nissan Rogue Plug-in Hybrid from the front three-quarter angleNissan
Nissan Needed A Hybrid As Soon As Possible
During a question and answer session with the press, Nissan Amercias Chief Product Officer Ponz Pandikuthira answered a question regarding whether the Plug-In hybrid would be offered alongside the E-Power, and for how long.
“We’re trying to figure out: Can those two co-exist for longer, or not? And at least we can claim we have a hybrid in our line-up. And there’s a lot of people who go online looking for a Rogue, they like the design, but if you don’t have a hybrid, they don’t even come in. We’re going to change that between now and then, and set the stage for E-Power. Sometime next year, we’ll decide if we keep both in parallel, or just switch to one of them.”
-Ponz Pandikuthira, chief product officer, Nissan Americas
Odds are that how well the PHEV sells will be a major factor for whether it sticks around. Pandikuthira indicated in his presentation that they’re not expecting the model to sell in particularly large numbers, and clearly it’s just going on sale to get a hybrid out before the E-Power can reach dealers. So the bar for it to outperform expectations might not be especially high. We could also see the Plug-In sticking around a little longer than anticipated if there are any production issues with the E-Power, either with limited production to start, or potential supply complications down the road.
Related
2026 Nissan Rogue Plug-In Hybrid Looks Oddly Familiar
Badge-engineering is alive and well
Nissan Could, Hypothetically, Make Its Own Plug-In E-Power
Nissan
Nissan’s E-Power hybrid powertrain is a series hybrid in which the engine is purely an electricity generator. It’s basically the same sort of layout that range-extended EVs use, such as the BMW i3 and the upcoming Ram 1500 Ramcharger. We asked Pandikuthira about the possibility of the Rogue E-Power getting a plug-in variant to replace the Mitsubishi-based model.
“Not yet, but it’s only logical,” Pandikuthira said. “So, the biggest problem when you do a plug-in version of a series hybrid, you just have to have a reservoir, a bigger reservoir. But you have to package that battery, and the location of that package – where does it need to go – the current Rogue isn’t quite package-protected for it. But if that’s what the market demands, we can make that happen. Just remember that the battery’s going to have to be around 20 to 22 kWh, that’s a lot of cost going into a car that at this price point doesn’t make sense.”
Related
Nissan’s Other Rogue Hybrid Is Gunning For CR-V And RAV4
Nissan executive gives ballpark estimates for fuel economy and power.
From that comment, it sounds like we shouldn’t get our hopes up for a plug-in Rogue E-Power hybrid. That could also mean that there won’t be a successor to the Mitusbishi-based plug-in Rogue if it is discontinued in the near future. It would make the rebranded SUV one strange footnote in the Rogue’s history.
