December 8, 2025 - Nissan Pickup the Pace On Hybrids

This is the Telemetry Transportation Daily for  December 8, 2025, and I'm Sam Abuelsamid, Vice President of Market Research for Telemetry.  

Hybrids have never been a significant part of Nissan's overall powertrain strategy, with the automaker focusing more on battery electrics with the launch of the original Leaf in late 2010. But even with the initial success of the Leaf, Nissan did little to expand its EV lineup in the 2010s. Meanwhile, Toyota, Honda, and Hyundai Motor Group rapidly expanded their hybrid offerings. Toyota now offers hybrids as either optional or standard equipment on every model sold in North America. Across Honda's three most popular models, hybrids account for nearly 50% of sales, and HMG offers hybrids or plug-in hybrids in most model lines now. 

Last week, Nissan provided an opportunity to sample its latest hybrid efforts with drive time in the European-spec Qashqai crossover with the e-Power series hybrid and the new Rogue plug-in hybrid. Nissan has a redesigned Rogue crossover coming in the second half of 2026, which will launch exclusively with the e-Power system. The third-generation e-Power shares many components with Nissan's latest EVs, the Leaf and Ariya, which helped bring the cost down by 30%. Nissan projects the Rogue e-Power to deliver about 40 mpg with all-wheel drive, making it fully competitive with the RAV4 and CR-V. As a series hybrid, the 1.5-liter three-cylinder engine only drives a generator with all propulsion coming from an electric motor. Thus, e-Power feels like driving an EV but without a plug, and it's significantly quieter on the road than Toyota's hybrid system. Drivers should really like e-Power.

The Rogue PHEV is simply a rebadged version of the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV with the same styling. The two vehicles share the same platform, but Mitsubishi developed the powertrain. It, too, is mostly a series hybrid and works well, delivering about 38 miles of range from a charge of its 20-kWh battery. The downside is that when the battery is depleted, the hybrid's efficiency is not particularly good, delivering only 26 mpg, 5 mpg less than the conventional gas Rogue. This Rogue PHEV is only intended as a bridge to the new Rogue e-Power, so Nissan has an electrified offering for the next year, and will likely be discontinued after the new Rogue arrives. 

Thanks for listening.