Australians are warming to Nissan’s unique take on hybrid powertrain technology, and the Japanese auto brand is looking to further expand its e-Power range as sales increase.
The e-Power hybrid system employs the engine under the bonnet solely as a generator for the car’s electric motor/s, providing an EV driving experience without the petrol engine directly powering the wheels.
For context, Toyota hybrid systems allow the electric motor/s and petrol engine to drive the wheels at the same time, or individually. So, you can run on EV power, or petrol power, or a combination of the two.
While the majority of Toyota Australia models are now hybrid-only, e-Power variants accounted for 26 per cent of Nissan X-Trail mid-sized SUV sales Down Under in 2024, while e-Power versions accounted for 15 per cent of Qashqai small SUV sales last year, despite only being available from March.
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X-Trail Ti-L e-Power
Nissan Australia is ‘ecstatic’ with those figures, and managing director Andrew Humberstone anticipates ongoing growth of its unique hybrid brand.
“There are many variants and opportunities open to us… e-Power technology is really critical for that migration from ICE [internal combustion engines], to hybrid reinvented, to full electric,” Mr Humberstone told CarExpert.
Nissan Australia has admitted that it initially struggled to communicate the benefits of e-Power with potential buyers, even as the market for hybrid SUVs surged, led mostly by Australia’s top-selling SUV, the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid.
Mr Humberstone is confident that local customers finally understand the technology, paving the way for a further expansion of the lineup and increased sales.
“We were not successful in how we communicated it originally, and people didn’t understand that it was a hybrid technology.
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Qashqai Ti e-Power
“What we know is that when people drive the car, they buy, and that’s once they understand the technology.
“This has been a learning curve in terms of coaching the network, the dealers, the salesmen, but also communicating with customers and changing the global brand strategy from just ‘e-Power’ to ‘e-Power, hybrid reinvented’.
“I think it’d be interesting to have this conversation in 12 months’ time, because we’ve really worked on our brand manifesto, really worked on brand positioning by model.”
Nissan’s innovative e-Power technology was first made available in Australia in the flagship X-Trail Ti-L variant, before being expanded to other five-seat, all-wheel drive versions of its popular mid-sized SUV, including the ST-L and Ti, before the flagship Qashqai Ti e-Power arrived.
Nissan currently only offers e-Power versions of the X-Trail and Qashqai in Australia, however, the technology powers a vast array of models overseas.
Hybrid vehicle sales are up 51.5 per cent so far this year in Australia, while EV sales are down 21.7 per cent. Last year, hybrid sales rose by 76 per cent compared to 2023.
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