Why the Nissan Rogue Plug-in Hybrid Looks Familiar

Nissan Rogue Plug-in Hybrid Revealed as Rebadged Mitsubishi

Nissan’s new plug-in SUV arrives with a Rogue badge, but anyone who knows the segment will see familiar lines. The Nissan Rogue Plug-in Hybrid is essentially a rebadged Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, sharing far more than just a platform with its corporate cousin.

While the two brands have shared the CMF-CD platform for years, they usually style them differently to appeal to separate audiences. However, instead of engineering a unique solution, Nissan has opted for a direct “badge engineering” approach. From the greenhouse to the powertrain, this new model is a Mitsubishi at heart, wearing a Nissan grille like a borrowed jacket.

Here is everything you need to know about this strategic move and the specs of the new hybrid.

The Specs: A Direct Transplant

Because this is a rebadge, the mechanical numbers are identical to the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV.

Exterior & Interior: A Very Familiar Vibe

The exterior treatment tries to align with Nissan’s current design language, but the shape underneath is unchanged. You still get that tall, muscular Outlander stance. The new headlights and trim pieces do help give it a Nissan front end, but from the side or rear, you can’t miss where this SUV originally came from.

Inside, the déjà vu effect is even stronger. The dashboard layout, seating arrangement, and overall cabin structure come straight out of the Outlander playbook.

• Three-Row Seating: Unlike the standard Rogue, this PHEV model offers seating for seven—a direct carryover from the Outlander’s layout.
• Tech: It features a 9-inch touchscreen, a 12.3-inch digital cluster, and wireless Apple CarPlay, though Nissan has added its own software skin.
• Cargo: The clever storage pockets and fold-flat solutions are identical to the Mitsubishi setup.

Why Did Nissan Do This?

This is classic badge engineering—the kind people joke about but rarely see this plainly anymore. The most obvious answer is cost and speed.

Making a specific Nissan Rogue Plug-in Hybrid from scratch would take massive R&D investment and time. With the market shifting rapidly toward hybrids, Nissan needed a plug-in option now. Simply reworking an existing Mitsubishi product saves both money and years of development time.

This isn’t Nissan’s first walk down this path. In Southeast Asia, the Nissan Livina was revived as a rebadged Mitsubishi Xpander. That experiment failed to gain traction, with sales tanking significantly. Whether the American market will accept a Mitsubishi in Nissan clothing remains to be seen, but for now, the “new” Rogue offers a proven powertrain in a familiar package.

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