Nissan has placed hybrid powertrains at the centre of its North American strategy, forecasting that they will become its primary powertrain in the region by 2030. The Japanese carmaker has already discontinued the Rogue Plug-In Hybrid and is preparing to build the e-Power Rogue Hybrid in the United States from 2028, alongside a hybrid version of the Kicks.
The shift follows a change in the US market after the Trump administration scrapped the $7,500 federal tax credit for electric vehicles. Generous state and federal incentives had led many in the industry to expect battery-electric vehicles to dominate American roads over the coming decade. Instead, demand for hybrids has returned strongly, and Nissan is now moving to catch up with rivals such as Toyota and Hyundai, which adopted hybrid technology far earlier.
At the centre of the plan is the 2027 Nissan Rogue Hybrid, which starts at $35,490 and is intended to challenge the Toyota RAV4. It marks the first time Nissan's e-Power self-charging hybrid technology has been offered in the United States after years of availability in international markets. In the Rogue, the system uses a 1.5-litre turbocharged three-cylinder engine as a generator for a 1.67 kWh lithium-ion battery pack and two electric motors, producing a combined 225 horsepower.
Nissan Americas chairman Christian Meunier confirmed that the Rogue Plug-In Hybrid, announced in late 2025, has been killed off. The model was essentially a rebadged version of the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, and Nissan had commissioned 3,000 vehicles for the US market. According to Meunier, only half of that volume has been sold, with the remainder expected to be cleared by the end of the year. He said the volume of plug-in hybrids in the US had collapsed to almost zero and described the model as a bridge to e-Power hybrid rather than a strategic product. Production has stopped.
Beyond the Rogue, Nissan plans to launch an e-Power hybrid version of the Kicks at roughly the same time as US production of the Rogue Hybrid begins in 2028. The company has also confirmed work on a hybrid V6 engine, which is expected to debut in the revived Xterra. That model, confirmed earlier this year, will rival the Ford Bronco and will be based on a body-on-frame platform shared with four other new-generation trucks to be built in the United States.
The decision to prioritise hybrids reflects a broader reassessment across the American car market. While electric vehicles remain part of the long-term picture, the removal of federal purchase incentives has slowed their adoption and reopened the case for self-charging hybrids as a practical, lower-cost alternative. For Nissan, which has been slower than some competitors to embrace hybridisation, the e-Power range is now intended to form the core of its portfolio in North America and Latin America rather than a niche offering.
The company's success will depend on whether the Rogue Hybrid can win buyers in the highly competitive compact SUV segment, where the Toyota RAV4 has long set the benchmark. Nissan's pricing of $35,490 positions the model directly against established hybrid rivals, and the addition of the Kicks and Xterra hybrids would extend the technology across a wider range of vehicles. With production scheduled to begin in the US in 2028, Nissan is betting that hybrids, not pure electric cars, will define its next decade in the region.