Auto Shanghai 2021: Nissan presents the new X-Trail

Guillaume Cartier, Chairman of Nissan Region Africa, Middle East, India, Europe, and Oceania (AMIEO), traveled specifically to Shanghai to demonstrate the importance of the X-Trail for his market regions as well, because with the new X-Trail, Nissan is completing the refurbishment of its SUV program for the first time. He proudly stated:

“It will complement the model range of its electrified crossover cousins and be an excellent SUV with an electrified drivetrain for our customers' daily needs.”

He was also pleased about Nissan's regained momentum:

“The renewal of our product range is progressing rapidly.”

The new Nissan X-Trail, like the Qashqai, is built on the CMF-C platform and will complete Nissan's SUV program from summer 2022. Inside, it takes cues from the Ariya, but the engine offerings remain rather conservative. At least with the so-called e-Power hybrid, the gasoline engine is only used to generate electricity, while the wheels are driven by an electric motor, a principle also applied by Honda in the CR-V. This allows the combustion engine to always run at the optimal rpm range, which leads to better fuel efficiency and lower CO2 emissions compared to a conventional gasoline engine.

Important for the US market - also available as all-wheel drive and seven-seater

In the Qashqai, with which the X-Trail shares the base, the electric motor delivers 140 kW, while the 1.5-liter gasoline engine as a power generator delivers 115 kW. However, Nissan has not yet provided fuel consumption figures; so far, only the 487-volt mild hybrid with 6.4 /100km according to WLTP has been found. In addition, the X-Trail will again be offered as an all-wheel drive, but Nissan is still keeping things under wraps here as well, as two systems can currently be installed: either an all-wheel-drive version of the e-Power with a second electric motor on the rear axle, as offered in Japan on the Nissan Note e-Power, or a classic mechanical variant.

With the X-Trail, Nissan is also updating the US twin "Rogue," which is one of the absolute top sellers there. We can also see some initial data: On the positive side, the length shrinks by five centimeters to 4,640 mm (minus 50 mm), the width increases by ten millimeters to 1,830 mm, and Nissan cuts the height by eleven millimeters to now 1,699 millimeters. Visually, the new X-Trail still appears more robust and differs significantly from its predecessor and also more distinctly from the Qashqai.

The interior of the X-Trail also makes a leap towards more elegance and quality, incorporating some details from the Ariya. Since the current version of the X-Trail already replaced the Qashqai+2, the new X-Trail will again be optionally available with three rows of seats.

What does this mean?

The X-Trail is also significant for Nissan's European SUV program and will visually differ more from the Qashqai in the future. It remains closely related to the Qashqai technically and thus also saves on electrification. The powertrain philosophy is more Japanese-inspired and, as the Rogue, the X-Trail plays a completely different role in the USA: It occasionally ranks in the top ten of all sold cars there. Therefore, the Ariya is likely to become the more important mid-size SUV in Europe in the medium term. Main problem: With the Ariya and the X-Trail, Nissan dealers already have two cars that customers will have to wait for until 2022.