Nissan’s North American lineup may look very different by the end of the decade. The automaker reportedly plans to shift to electrified powertrains as part of its turnaround efforts, including a range of hybrids and models with range-extending gas engines.
Industry publication Automotive News spoke with Nissan Americas Chairman Christian Meunier, who said that hybrid power will likely become the automaker’s primary powertrain in North America by 2030.
Nissan wants to localize production of the Rogue e-Power hybrid by 2028 and is expected to expand that powertrain to the Kicks subcompact SUV. The upcoming Xterra revival will launch with a V6 hybrid option, and the option could expand to the Frontier truck line.
Rumors of Nissan’s demise might be completely overblown, but the truth is that it currently can’t compete with its home-country rivals. Toyota’s lineup is packed with hybrids, while Nissan’s sole hybrid, the Rogue Plug-in Hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), is a rebadged Mitsubishi Outlander.
Speaking about the rebadged Rogue PHEV, Meunier told Automotive News that, “The volume of plug-in hybrid in the U.S. has collapsed down to almost zero. It’s not a strategic model for us. It was more a bridge to e-power hybrid. So production is stopped.”
Nissan is shifting the focus of its best-selling Rogue model to the e-Power hybrid version, which uses a 3-cylinder gas engine to act solely as a generator for the batteries and electric motors. In a recent test of a prototype version, we found it drives like an EV without the hassle of recharging.
The Rogue e-Power is also part of the automaker’s U.S. production push, which helps mitigate the worst effects of recent tariffs. Around 65% of Nissan’s current sales come from U.S.-built vehicles, and the company wants to expand that to 80% by the end of 2030.
