The Nissan Rogue PHEV may look familiar, but is it a solid buy…or should you pass on this one?
It feels weird saying that a Nissan Rogue is the most controversial car of the year, but that’s the premise we’re going with for this one. More specifically, Tommy lays out all the details and his thoughts on the 2026 Nissan Rogue Plug-in Hybrid in the video below.
Why is it one of the more controversial cars to emerge this year? Well, that takes a bit of context to flesh out. As the market gets more and more saturated with hybrid and plug-in hybrid models, accelerated by buyers’ reluctance to buy fully electric vehicles, Nissan is in a pickle. It doesn’t have any hybrid models to speak of, after pulling the last-generation Rogue Hybrid out of circulation after the 2019 model year. You could argue it made sense at the time, but the landscape has changed dramatically in the intervening years…and now the automaker needs a hybrid model. Desperately.
Enter the 2026 Nissan Rogue PHEV. And you probably noticed something right off the bat: It’s not your typical Rogue. It is, in actuality, a rebadged Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV. You could argue it’s not cheating, since the current Outlander is already based on the Rogue anyway…it’s all about perspective, isn’t it?
At any rate, the 2026 Rogue PHEV offers up a stopgap in Nissan’s lineup until the brand-new 2027 Rogue Hybrid makes it onto the market. That particular SUV gets Nissan’s “e-Power” hybrid system that Tommy also sampled in the overseas Qashqai. So, no matter which way you slice it, the Outlander’s new twin aims to technically give Nissan a hybrid model to sell over the next several months. It’s still worth your consideration, however, for the same reasons as the Outlander PHEV would already be on your shopping list.
This is technically the most powerful Nissan Rogue to-date
If you’re shopping a solid all-around family SUV, there’s still plenty of reason why you’d consider a 2026 Nissan Rogue Plug-in Hybrid. With 248 horsepower and 332 lb-ft of torque on tap, it manages to be the most powerful Rogue you can currently buy. And unlike the standard model’s 1.5-liter turbocharged three-pot, this comes mated to a 2.4-liter engine and 20-kWh battery pack. As a result, it is a substantially quicker option, to say nothing of the extra 38 miles of estimated all-electric driving capability.
If you’re looking for the most practicality in the smallest footprint, the Rogue PHEV also seats a couple more people than your standard model. That said, “people” pretty much boils down to a couple extra kids in the back, since that third row is still in a compact SUV. Stick any larger folks back there and they’re going to have a pretty miserable time, but at least you get the option of seven passengers here.
Inside, the 2026 Nissan Rogue PHEV is virtually identical to the Mitsubishi’s, with one key exception. Weirdly, you don’t get a 12.3-inch infotainment display, as the Roguelander here tops out at 9 inches. You also don’t get DC fast-charging capability, not that many people use it even in the Outlander PHEV anyway.
At this point, we don’t know exactly where Nissan plans to price the Rogue PHEV, particularly against the Outlander. Keep in mind, this car will only offer the higher-end SL and Platinum trims. That will likely pin the pricing in the upper-$40,000s range, which is a big ask ($10K, actually) over the standard Rogue. I’m wondering if Nissan will price it a bit lower to make it more appealing against the Outlander PHEV…but we’ll have to wait and see.
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