There wont however be an all electric version. While Nissan are said to be ditching the diesel engine, the cost of investment to develop an all electric car would be too much. This doesn't mean that an all electric Nissan SUV isn't on the way, it just means that when a pure-electric Nissan SUV comes along, it will be donning a new name on an all-new platform.
The technology that Nissan will be utilising for the next-gen Qashqai, previewed above, will be based on a new version of the Alliance's CMF (Common Module Family) architecture that is compatible with hybrid tech.
Speaking exclusively to Auto Express, Ponz Pandikuthira, vice-president of product planning for Nissan Europe, said: “We are looking at a new platform because that’s what’s best to accommodate electrified technologies."
“It probably won’t include full electrification, because that’s a complete tear-up and the investment required for that would be considerably higher.”
“We’re investigating the ePower technology for Europe,” explained Pandikuthira. “The biggest difference when you do these onboard generator vehicles is highway driving; in Japan, they typically don’t go above 50-65mph.
“Here in Europe, you do 80-85mph on a regular basis. At those speeds, you end up depleting the battery very quickly, so the range extender has to work really hard to keep the energy going and then it goes out of its range of efficiency.”
News of Nissan looking to say good bye to the diesel Qashqai, paired with diesel sales plummeting by 232% this year, could signifying the end of Nissan's diesel powered SUV.
What's next after this? A pure-electric Nissan SUV. Pandikuthira added: “When you develop an electric car from the ground up to be electric, you make fundamentally different choices to make a more efficient electric car. If we took a Qashqai and made it electric, which we could, you introduce compromises. It will neither be an efficient internal combustion-engined car even if it were a hybrid, nor would it be the best electric vehicle.”
