Before it officially goes on sale later this year, Nissan invited us to try out the brand-new 2027 Nissan Rogue Hybrid in Japan.
The Nissan Rogue is still the brand’s best-selling model in America, with dealers shifting more than 70,000 units in just the first three months of this year. There’s one thing it’s been lacking these past several years, though, and it’s something the automaker intends to remedy with its next-generation model: hybrid power. The 2027 Nissan Rogue Hybrid is changing up Nissan’s approach to its compact SUV, and the company invited TFL Studios (and Roman, specifically) out to Japan to test the prototype model before it goes on sale later this year.
Not only does the new Rogue Hybrid reintroduce an electrified model to Nissan’s lineup, but it’s a different kind of hybrid to what most folks are used to. Nissan’s e-Power system is a series hybrid, where the gasoline engine never actually drives the wheels. Instead, the 1.5-liter turbocharged three-cylinder mill acts as a generator. Instead of powering the wheels directly, it just generates the electricity which feeds the battery pack, then the electric motor. It is, as we’ve seen increasingly in recent years, an “extened-range electric vehicle” (EREV), rather than a more conventional parallel hybrid like, say, a Toyota RAV4.
While that engine is the same displacement as what’s in the current Rogue, it’s been updated heavily. The idea is to gear the generating capacity toward efficiency, efficiency and more efficiency. The European Qashqai with e-Power system, which Tommy drove a few months back, achieves up to 64.2 mpg according to Nissan UK’s estimated figures (real-world results peg it in the 52-53 mpg ball park, which is still an impressive result).
In the video below, Roman checks out the current, outgoing Nissan Rogue against the new e-Power Hybrid model. For reference, the existing Rogue uses a 1.5-liter three-cylinder turbo engine, putting out 201 horsepower and 255 lb-ft of torque. That number doesn’t look too bad on paper, but in the real world…the CVT just saps any potential enjoyment from the experience. This not-quite-an-EV should be the best of both worlds, upping the ante quite significantly on efficiency while giving Nissan’s best-selling crossover some actual zip.
Check out how the new Rogue Hybrid does on Nissan’s 2.3-mile test track below:
