Reports out of Japan are speculating Nissan will add its first-ever plug-in hybrid (PHEV) powertrain to its global line-up.
According to BestCar, the X-trail will be the the first likely contender to receive the hybrid technology, the publication speculating the petrol-electric system could be developed in-house for sale by the “late 2020s”.
However, it's more likely Nissan will borrow the technology from Mitsubishi given the X-trail and Outlander PHEV are already underpinned by the same platform. Nissan and Mitsubishi are engaged in an OEM partnership which facilitates the exchange of powertrain technologies.
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The X-trail and Qashqai are currently sold with the option of a hybrid powertrain, though the 2.1kWh lithium-ion battery pack facilitates only modest pure-electric driving, providing roughly 4.0km of range.
The Outlander PHEV, on the other hand, is one of Australia’s top-selling plug-in models, providing a claimed 84km of pure-electric range.
Mitsubishi has sold 18,741 Outlanders so far this year, approximately 20 per cent being PHEV variants, equal to around 3750 units.
The report from BestCar comes as hybrid demand continues to increase globally, while EV demand, particularly in western markets, loses momentum.
In Australia, hybrid and PHEV vehicle sales have cumulatively increased by 98.7 per cent over this time last year, accounting for 15.6 per cent of new car sales to August 2024, compared to 8.25 per cent in August 2023.
PHEV vehicles still make up a relatively small share of total hybrid sales, though, accounting for 13,076 new vehicle registrations so far in 2024 compared to 116,316 non-plug-in hybrid sales.
That figure still represents a huge year-on-year increase for PHEV vehicles of 124.7 per cent, compared to just 5750 sales last year.
The huge growth has partly been spurred by the recent arrival of the BYD Sealion 6 PHEV, which has already racked up 2036 sales since orders commenced in May.
A total of 57,076 EVs have been purchased this year compared to 56,922 last year, a marginal year-on-year increase of just 1.4 per cent, while 830,226 vehicles have been sold in Australia to the end of August this year.
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