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2021 Nissan X-Trail: Australian models could offer seven seats, two hybrid options – report

The new-generation 2021 Nissan X-Trail could offer a seven-seat option and a pair of hybrid powertrains when it arrives in Australia.


Japanese website Best Car Web reports the new X-Trail, which was unveiled for the US in June 2020, will enter production for, and go on sale in Japan in September 2021.

It's understood the Japanese-built X-Trail, rather than its US-built equivalent, will be the one to make its way to Australian Nissan showrooms, given the current X-Trail is built in Japan for our market.

The publication reports Japanese-made examples of the new X-Trail will continue to offer a choice of two-row, five-seat and three-row, seven-seat configurations, as per the outgoing model – a choice which will likely be offered to Australian customers, come the car's local launch.

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Above: The third row of seats in the outgoing Nissan X-Trail.

Four powertrain choices will reportedly be offered in the car's home market, covering petrol, series-hybrid and plug-in hybrid power.

Both 2.0-litre and 2.4-litre naturally-aspirated petrol engines will open the range, driving the front or all wheels through a standard-fit CVT automatic transmission.

While outputs aren't detailed in the Japanese report, the outgoing X-Trail's 2.0-litre petrol four-cylinder (mated solely to a manual gearbox in Australia) develops 106kW of power and 200Nm of torque, while the current 2.5-litre petrol four produces 126kW and 226Nm – expect the new model to claim similar or slightly increased figures.

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Nissan's unique E-Power hybrid system will lead the electrified portion of the line-up, with Best Car Web reporting the X-Trail's system will be an uprated version of that used in the Japanese-market Kicks small SUV, employing a small 1.2-litre petrol engine as a generator for a powered-up electric motor and a compact battery, with the e-motor exclusively powering the front or all wheels.

In the Kicks, the 1.2-litre E-Power system develops 95kW and 260Nm, though outputs will be uprated to match the X-Trail's extra mass, with the mid-size SUV likely offering close to or more than the 140kW/330Nm developed by the upcoming, one-size-smaller Nissan Qashqai E-Power.

Interestingly, the hybrid Qashqai employs a larger, 1.5-litre petrol engine as a generator, versus the upcoming X-Trail's 1.2-litre unit – suggesting (though still remaining unconfirmed) power outputs for the mid-sizer could in fact be lower than its small SUV sibling.

Serving as the flagship of the range will be a plug-in hybrid system, which the Japanese publication claims will be shared with the next-generation Mitsubishi Outlander, mating a 2.4-litre petrol engine with an unspecified number of electric motors.

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The new plug-in hybrid powertrain is said to be "more efficient and compact" than that of the outgoing Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, with Best Car Web reporting it will be offered only with all-wheel drive and five seats.

While Nissan Australia remains tight-lipped on when the new mid-size SUV will touch down on Australian shores, given locally-delivered models are expected to continue to be built in Japan, expect the new X-Trail to arrive Down Under very late 2021 or early 2022.

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Alex Misoyannis

Alex Misoyannis has been writing about cars since 2017, when he started his own website, Redline. He contributed for Drive in 2018, before joining CarAdvice in 2019, becoming a regular contributing journalist within the news team in 2020. Cars have played a central role throughout Alex’s life, from flicking through car magazines at a young age, to growing up around performance vehicles in a car-loving family.

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