Nissan’s ground-breaking Chinese-built NX8 SUV priced overseas as new rival to 2026 Kia EV9 and Subaru Trailseeker

Nissan’s long-awaited NX8 large SUV has gone on sale in China, where it is built as part of a joint-venture with Dongfeng.

The NX8 is 4870mm long, making it larger than the Kia EV6, but smaller than the EV9. On the Australian market, it is closest in size to the Polestar 3, which is also a large five-seater. In the near future, it would also compete with the Subaru Trailseeker and Toyota bZ4X Touring.

Unlike those dedicated EV rivals though, the NX8 is offered in both full EV and range-extender hybrid forms, making it a potentially unique offering if it were to reach our shores.

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The NX8 looks to be significantly more affordable than its rivals. Its Chinese price-tag starts at around A$35,000 for the base 150 Pro hybrid version, reaching to around A$45,000 for the top-spec fully electric 650 Max. If it were to follow the usual roughly 20 per cent extra price conversion from most Chinese models, you could expect to see price-tags sitting in a $45,000 - $60,000 span in Australia.

The most affordable version of the Kia EV9 starts at $97,000, meaning the NX8 could compete with cars a size-bracket below it, whilst also offering a range-extender hybrid alternative to the just-announced Subaru Trailseeker EV, which starts from $67,990 before on-roads.

There are effectively five main variants across three trim levels of the NX8 in its Chinese home market. There are two range extenders, which are equipped with a 1.5-litre turbo engine and a battery providing either 150km or 310km of range and two fully electric versions, offering either 580km or 650km of range. These are then split into the base Pro, mid-spec Max, and top-spec Brand Master trim levels.

Only the 650 Max and Brand Master grades with a more powerful 250kW motor are offered with an 800-volt 81kWh CATL battery, which can fast charge on a DC unit at up to a claimed 463kW for a 10 - 80 per cent charge time in as low as 12 minutes.

2026 Nissan NX8

Meanwhile the lesser 400-volt 580 versions are offered with a 73kWh LFP battery from Sunwoda and the range extenders are both LFP batteries, with either a 20.3kWh or 43.2kWh capacity.

Total range for the hybrids is set at either 1320km for the 150km battery, or 1450km for the 310km battery. All variants have vehicle-to-load, able to output at an impressive 6.6kW.

Interestingly, all variants of the NX8 are rear-wheel drive, with the range-extender variants producing 195kW/310Nm, the electric versions producing 215kW/310Nm, and only the top-spec 800-volt versions producing 250kW/310Nm.

2026 Nissan NX8

As it is only a five-seater, the NX8 offers a larger-than-usual boot capacity of 773 litres, while electric versions also get a 95 litre frunk.

Interior kit includes dual 15.6-inch multimedia panels spanning the dash, and a 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster for the driver.

There is a non-zero possibility of the NX8 making it to Australia, as Nissan executives have actively opened the door to the idea of the brand’s Chinese built range coming to Australia, although this is likely to start with the sought-after BYD Shark 6-rivalling Frontier Pro as a plug-in hybrid alternative to the recently-launched next-generation Navara.

2026 Nissan NX8

Globally, Nissan executives have also leaned into the idea of making Chinese joint-venture models more international propositions in order to make Nissan more competitive again.

In addition, the end of production for the previously-American-sourced Pathfinder leaves an NX8-sized space in Nissan’s line-up somewhere above the X-Trail.