2026 Nissan X-Trail NISMO teased ahead of August 21 debut

The 2026 Nissan X-Trail NISMO has been teased for the first time and will make its global debut tomorrow as a heightened competitor for the inbound 2026 Toyota RAV4 GR Sport.

Nissan’s high-performance division is putting the finishing touches on a new hot X-Trail, the most prominent of which will be brash styling tweaks mirroring the NISMO versions of the Z, GT-R and recently shown Patrol.

A YouTube teaser shows the X-Trail NISMO featuring a pair of narrow daytime running lamps, a different grille and a red-accented front splitter.

Extended bumpers, side skirts, wider arches to accommodate wider front and rear tracks and plenty of NISMO badges are the other key styling measures, with the whole package set to ride on lightweight 20-inch Enkei wheels.

A retuned chassis – retuned steering, stiffer springs, new dampers – will also be included, as will a set of stickier Michelin tyres, but early reports out of Japan suggest there won’t be any power increases from the electric-drive e-Power hybrid system (157kW/525Nm).

That said, there could be some software tweaks to provide a quicker-reacting, more rear-bias version of the e-4ORCE all-wheel drive system.

Inside, there will be black sports leather seats, carbon-fibre trim accents and the option of a pair of more aggressive Recaro bucket seats wrapped in leather and Alcantara.

A new nine-speaker Bose sound system will also be available.

Nissan Australia has yet to confirm the 2026 Nissan X-Trail NISMO for our market, but if it does join the line-up without a power bump, it will be significantly out-gunned by the looming 2026 Toyota RAV4 GR Sport AWD (224kW).

The plug-in hybrid RAV4’s extra punch translates to a far brisker 0-100km/h dash of 5.8 seconds (vs 7.0s), meaning the X-Trail might have to rely on its theoretically sharper handling and/or pricing to endear itself to Aussie buyers.