Nissan’s planning chief and soon-to-be CEO revealed a shakeup with new and refreshed models.
There’s no hiding the situation: Nissan is going through a tough stretch at the moment. There’s a new CEO on the way in next week, Ivan Espinosa, and heralding his arrival is an announcement covering a slate of next-generation models for the U.S. and Canadian markets. According to what the automaker said in its official statement, we’ll see new sedans, SUVs and EVs make their way into the fold over the next 2-3 years.
So, how does Nissan plan to stop the bleeding?
While it’s spent the last little while shedding some long-running models, it’s focusing on its core range to forge the path forward from fiscal year 2025 (later this year, in other words) and beyond.
First up in Nissan’s latest revitalization plan to get the cars folks want to the right market is a new Nissan Leaf. If you’re an enthusiast, that may not have been your first choice, but here’s the thing: It’s been a huge part of the brand’s portfolio over the past decade-plus. The latest version is really getting long in the tooth, though, and apart from pushing out volume through insanely cheap lease deals…well, there’s not a lot of sparkle to bring people into the electric car lifestyle. To that end, the 2026 Nissan Leaf is ditching its hatchback body for — what else? — a company SUV.
To that end, it looks like the new Leaf will sit below the Ariya in Nissan’s EV lineup, and ride on the same CMF-EV platform. Beyond Nissan mentioning its “streamlined packaging”, 19-inch wheels, panoramic moonroof and onboard NACS port, though, the company is pretty vague on details. Nissan is promising “significant range improvements” over the current model — and it needs all the help it can get on that front — but we can’t tell you exactly what that means in terms of battery size, charging rates or actual driving range just yet.
Focusing on the essentials: A new Rogue and more
Like every other automaker, SUVs generate most of Nissan’s revenue these days, so it’s unsurprising to hear about the Rogue. Updates here will come in two stints, with the first happening in 2026. At that time, we’ll see a plug-in hybrid join the lineup, with a powertrain borrowed from the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV and styling tweaks.
Beyond that, though, Nissan is promising an all-new, fourth-generation model for 2027. That cadence is a little faster than what we saw transitioning from the second to third generations (with the latter arriving in 2020), but with Nissan’s current financial state, it makes sense why they’re getting a rush on. The PHEV will carry over, as will a gas-only option, though the automaker is also bringing its “e-Power” system over to North America as well. That system has been around since 2016 in Japan, and basically uses the 1.5-liter turbocharged engine as a generator to charge a lithium-ion battery, then the electric motor that actually drives the wheels.
A new Sentra and Pathfinder
Sticking with the SUVs for a moment, Nissan mentioned a refreshed Pathfinder SUV arriving later this year. We’re mainly talking about a mid-cycle refresh here that also translates to the Infiniti QX60, but beyond that the company said precisely nothing about it, other than the fact they’re coming.
Nissan isn’t completely giving up on sedans, though, as it also teased a new version of the Sentra (shown in the front-left portion of the image above). It’s stepping up from its current position, leaving its compact economy car status behind to become a larger, sleeker-looking and more expensive model to fill the Altima’s shoes, as Nissan is dropping the current Altima after this year.
Word has it the 2026 Nissan Sentra will bring in the same 1.5-liter three-cylinder turbo as the Rogue, offering up a bit more gusto than the current model, while a CVT will ensure solid fuel economy without having to resort to a hybrid. It’s a complete mystery how much the new Sentra will cost, but — external forces notwithstanding — it should land somewhere around the $30,000 range.
Other announcements this week include a new Infiniti QX65, which will basically be a coupe-fied version of the QX60. It will see a similar styling update to the QX60 SUV, while the luxury brand plans to drop the smaller QX50 and QX55 from the lineup this year. The full-size QX80, for its part, will get a new Sport model.
A new Xterra?
Interestingly, Nissan teased an “adventure-focused SUV” with its announcement, and showed the silhouette of a small, boxy SUV at the back of the pack. Rumors suggest the automaker will revive the Xterra name that’s been dormant for the past decade, though it hasn’t outright confirmed that at this point.
More to the point, this new adventure SUV will be electric, rather than bring in one of the brand’s current powertrains to a create a modern reimagining of the old Xterra to compete against the current Ford Bronco, Jeep Wrangler and Toyota 4Runner. The company says it will build this new EV at its Canton, Mississippi plant alongside a new Infiniti derived from the Vision QXe concept shown earlier this year. In order to make it happen, Nissan says it will invest a total of $661 million as part of a U.S. battery manufacturing agreement with SK On, in addition to $500 million in improvements to the Canton facility to build EVs.
No other details are available at the moment, but this latest announcement seems to override Nissan’s earlier plans to build a pair of electric sedans at the plant. So, we will see a couple new SUVs emerge from Mississippi in late 2027, and will hopefully learn more about each one, including whether Nissan actually plans to call theirs the Xterra, before then.
