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Andrew Chesterton
Contributing Journalist
16 Feb 2023
3 min read

Nissan has defended the fuel savings on offer in its electrified X-Trail e-Power, suggesting Toyota exaggerates the fuel-use claims in its popular hybrid models, including the RAV4 Hybrid.

Unlike Toyota – which uses a conventional hybrid system in models like the Kluger, the Corolla Cross and the Yaris CrossNissan's e-Power uses a petrol motor to recharge the onboard lithium-ion battery, with only the electric motors used to power the driving wheels.

This, says Nissan, delivers a superior "EV-like" drive experience, but it can't match the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid on claimed fuel use.

For perspective, the conventional hybrid system in the Toyota RAV4 delivers a claimed 4.7L/100km on the combined cycle. The Nissan X-Trail e-Power, on the other hand, claims 6.1L/100km, which is an increase of almost 30 per cent.

But that, says Nissan, is only the beginning, with the brand saying that customer satisfaction is much higher than it is in a traditional hybrid, and then doubling down by suggesting Toyota is over-selling its fuel figures.

"This drives more like an EV, and we know from our experience with EVs that customers love it," says Adam Robertson, deputy director at the Nissan Technical Center Europe.

"EVs have the highest level of satisfaction for acceleration, and that's not just the outright performance for a car like the Porsche Taycan, that's all EVs.

"We also know that traditional hybrids have the lowest satisfaction. We wanted to capture the customer experience that they really like and bring that in wth e-Power.

"It's not just the 'rubber band' sound (of a conventional hybrid), it's the pregnant pauses, the delays, you put your foot down and you have to wait for the revs to build, the torque to transfer through the transmission and the vehicle to accelerate.

"With an EV you put your foot down and it's there and away you go."

The conventional hybrid system in the Toyota RAV4 delivers a claimed 4.7L/100km on the combined cycle.
The conventional hybrid system in the Toyota RAV4 delivers a claimed 4.7L/100km on the combined cycle.

Another Nissan executive went on to suggest the fuel savings between the two models might be closer in the real-world than the paper specifications suggest, issuing a stunning take-down of Toyota's mega-popular hybrid solution.

"I think with the fuel economy, it's a tricky one. We'll leave it in your hands to do the real-world testing, but from a lot of the articles I've seen for RAV4 Hybrid, you can't get anywhere near 4.8 (litres per hundred kilometres)," says Aleksandar Pecanac, Nissan Australia's product manager for X-Trail.

"And from a lot of the articles I've seen from Qashqai, they're getting very close to the quoted e-Power figures, and we expect a similar result with X-Trail."

Asked whether that meant he thought Toyota was over-selling their hybrid fuel savings, Mr Pecanac replied:

"Based off the media reports, and the real-world testing, I think so."

Andrew Chesterton
Contributing Journalist
Andrew Chesterton should probably hate cars. From his hail-damaged Camira that looked like it had spent a hard life parked at the end of Tiger Woods' personal driving range, to the Nissan Pulsar Reebok that shook like it was possessed by a particularly mean-spirited demon every time he dared push past 40km/h, his personal car history isn't exactly littered with gold. But that seemingly endless procession of rust-savaged hate machines taught him something even more important; that cars are more than a collection of nuts, bolts and petrol. They're your ticket to freedom, a way to unlock incredible experiences, rolling invitations to incredible adventures. They have soul. And so, somehow, the car bug still bit. And it bit hard. When "Chesto" started his journalism career with News Ltd's Sunday and Daily Telegraph newspapers, he covered just about everything, from business to real estate, courts to crime, before settling into state political reporting at NSW Parliament House. But the automotive world's siren song soon sounded again, and he begged anyone who would listen for the opportunity to write about cars. Eventually they listened, and his career since has seen him filing car news, reviews and features for TopGear, Wheels, Motor and, of course, CarsGuide, as well as many, many others. More than a decade later, and the car bug is yet to relinquish its toothy grip. And if you ask Chesto, he thinks it never will.
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