Look out, Toyota RAV4 Hybrid! 2022 Nissan X-Trail e-Power to debut next year, with new Qashqai and other hybrids to follow

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The fourth-generation Nissan X-Trail, the T33 series, is expected to debut the e-Power petrol-electric hybrid system for 2022.
Byron Mathioudakis
Contributing Journalist
12 Nov 2020
5 min read

Far from watching helplessly from the sidelines, Nissan is preparing to take on the hot-selling Toyota RAV4 Hybrid with its own petrol-electric version of the next-generation X-Trail, known as the e-Power.

Expected to go on sale in Australia towards the end of next year or in early 2022, the fourth version of the evergreen mid-size SUV will be the first of a slew of e-Power hybrid-motivated Nissans, with the next-gen Qashqai and even a variation of the latest Juke small SUV also in line for electrification.

All up, Nissan Australia is aiming to offer a full one-third of its model range with either e-Power or full electrification within the next three years.

Read More:Ā New Nissan X-Trail 2021 detailed: Next-generation Toyota RAV4-rivalling SUV revealed

ā€œe-Power will certainly be in quite a few of our models,ā€ according to Nissan Australia managing director Stephen Lester, speaking to CarsGuide at the launch of the Nissan MY21 Navara facelift in Melbourne earlier this month.Ā 

ā€œThere’s not much limitation in what or where or how e-Power can be used.

ā€œAnd as we’ve said in our midterm plan (Nissan’s global roadmap for the next three years released in June), we expect to have 30 per cent of our portfolio with electrified power, and e-Power gives us full electric to the wheels experience, in addition to potentially some other fully electrified product.

ā€œWe’ve got a number currently today on Australian shores that are well suited for e-Power.ā€

To recap, e-Power is Nissan’s proprietary hybrid system whereby an electric motor solely drives the wheels, while an internal-combustion engine (ICE) only ever recharges a battery pack that is larger than, say Toyota’s series-parallel hybrid battery but smaller than that used in an all-electric vehicle (EV).Ā 

Besides being comparatively inexpensive, e-Power doesn’t have anything to plug in, and is said to be some 50 per cent more fuel efficient than a comparable ICE.

Along with e-Power versions of the X-Trail, Qashqai and Juke, it is anticipated that the next-generation version of the Note small hatchback with e-Power is under investigation for 2022, while on the full EV front, Nissan is preparing to expand the Leaf range with more variants, has the Ariya EV SUV to consider, and may even be developing another, smaller EV SUV/crossover further down the track. Ā 

While acknowledging the barriers that it has helped take down since launching so successfully in mid-2019, Mr Lester is adamant the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid’s relentless march up the sales charts is simply serving a market that is ready and waiting for electrification.

ā€œWe already know it is there,ā€ he said. ā€œThe only thing (the RAV4 Hybrid) has done is that it’s further validated what we are doing.ā€

Mr Lester believes that demand will grow significantly if more carmakers join Nissan in importing hybrids and EVs into Australia – as the example of the RAV4 Hybrid’s historical number-one sales achievement in August proves.

Read More:Ā Battle of the hybrid family SUVs: Toyota RAV4 to be rumbled by new Nissan X-Trail, Mitsubishi Outlander and Eclipse Cross, and Ford Escape

ā€œThe reality for electrification is that until there is a group of all manufacturers delivering enough choice, there is no compelling proposition collectively for consumers to move en-masse to electrification – that’s an inevitability for every product that’s out there,ā€ he said.

ā€œBeer sales wold drop to zero if you offered just one choice per brand – yet there is proliferation. Everything would change without choice – there is no doubt about that. So, as one brand, we need to continue to diversify our range of choice for consumers, to attract more people in, and when that happens, you’ll see that takes off. And it moves quite quickly. And a good portion of people need to be on that train. Without that, none of those technologies will really move that far forward.

ā€œTwo years ago, if I was to tell you that the bestselling car in Australia in August would be a hybrid, you would have laughed me out of the room. Two years, that’s all it took (for RAV4 Hybrid to hit number one).ā€ Ā 

Read More:Ā Why e-Power will be a game-charger for Nissan

Finally, Mr Lester reckons that people must realise that offering an EV or hybrid does not automatically mean the end of petrol- or diesel-powered vehicles, but rather gives the consumer more options.

ā€œThe thing about EVs are they’re not like an either/or choice,ā€ he explained. ā€œIt’s a thing we are struggling with unnecessarily. It’s an additional vehicle. It’s an additional powertrain. And for a lot of consumers, it’s already there… it hasn’t gotten quite 100 per cent, because it’s still not quite there, but it will continue (to grow) over time…

ā€œAnd we’ll see it get to the point where in the not-too-distant future, people will expect (the choice of electrification).ā€

Byron Mathioudakis
Contributing Journalist
Byron started his motoring journalism career when he joined John Mellor in 1997 before becoming a freelance motoring writer two years later. He wrote for several motoring publications and was ABC Youth radio Triple J's "all things automotive" correspondent from 2001 to 2003. He rejoined John Mellor in early 2003 and has been with GoAutoMedia as a senior product and industry journalist ever since. With an eye for detail and a vast knowledge base of both new and used cars Byron lives and breathes motoring. His encyclopedic knowledge of cars was acquired from childhood by reading just about every issue of every car magazine ever to hit a newsstand in Australia. The child Byron was the consummate car spotter, devoured and collected anything written about cars that he could lay his hands on and by nine had driven more imaginary miles at the wheel of the family Ford Falcon in the driveway at home than many people drive in a lifetime. The teenage Byron filled in the agonising years leading up to getting his driver's license by reading the words of the leading motoring editors of the country and learning what they look for in a car and how to write it. In short, Byron loves cars and knows pretty much all there is to know about every vehicle released during his lifetime as well as most of the ones that were around before then.
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