Expanding its partnership with Chinese brand Dongfeng, Nissan’s next X-Trail-sized SUV could lean heavily on Dongfeng’s EV and PHEV expertise.
Nissan has been spied testing a new medium SUV that could become an electric and plug-in hybrid counterpart to the current X-Trail.
As part of a joint venture with China’s Dongfeng Motor, the new model would become the third in a range of vehicles developed by Dongfeng for Nissan.
Nissan already sells the N6 plug-in hybrid medium sedan and all-electric N7 medium sedan in China as part of the model-sharing agreement with Dongfeng.
The newest model, likely to be badged the Nissan N8, appears to be based on the Dongfeng eπ (e-pi) 008, a three-row large SUV available with plug-in range-extender (EREV) or all-electric (EV) powertrains.
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The lightly camouflaged Nissan undergoing testing wears a version of the split headlight signature already in use on the N6 and N7, with a full-width rear light bar also seen on the Dongfeng-developed sedans.
The styling cues for the Nissan N cars differ from those being introduced on Nissan’s in-house developed models being launched elsewhere.
The comouglaged prototype appears to be shorter in length than the Pathfinder-sized, 5002mm-long Dongfeng eπ 008, with the position of the rear seats suggesting a two-row seating layout, rather than the three-row seating of the donor vehicle.
Dongfeng’s version offers a 200kW single-motor or 400kW dual-motor drivetrain on EV models with battery capacity of 56.8 or 70.3 kilowatt-hours.
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Driving range ratings, based on Chinese testing, are between 530km and 620km.
The EREV model is powered by a 160kW motor, drawing from a 28.4kWh battery, which is rated to allow for up to 200km of electric driving range. A 1.5-litre petrol engine is used as an onboard generator to extend the driving range rating up to 1200km.
At this stage, it’s not yet known is Nissan will adopt these exact powertrain and battery formats, but the Dongfeng models provide a glimpse of what’s possible from the shared platform.
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In March of 2025 Nissan announced that a plug-in hybrid X-Trail would be joining its North American line-up, where it sells as the Nissan Rogue, but showed a barely-restyled version of the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV as a teaser for that vehicle.
While the X-Trail and Outlander share a platform and drivetrain components, thus far Mitsubishi hasn’t had access to Nissan’s e:Power hybrid system and Nissan has not adopted Mitsubishi’s PHEV tech.
For now, the Nissan N6 and N7 are exclusive to the Chinese market, and it’s not yet known if Nissan will expand the reach of the N8 globally.
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