Nissan takes aim at Tesla Model Y, but not with an X-Trail

Nissan has Australia's top-selling EV in its sights. The Japanese brand’s local boss Steve Milette told carsales more electric vehicles are coming, and a medium electric SUV is the obvious target. That's the Tesla Model Y's home turf.

Despite around 340,000 X-Trails have been sold in Australia, don't expect it to wear an X-Trail badge… but it may have an X in the name

In a wide-ranging interview with carsales, Nissan Oceania’s managing director Milette didn't hesitate when asked point blank whether more EVs were coming to Australia.

"More EVs will be announced," he confirmed, which mirrors the accelerating uptake of battery electric vehicles in Australia.

"Nothing to announce today, but to answer your question, yes,” he added.

EVs accounted for almost 25 per cent of all new car sales in Septmber 2026 and given that Nissan has already Aussie journos drives in the Nissan NX8 SUV in China, that vehicle is top of the list.

"If you look at our mid-term plan, it will have diversification of powertrain.”

“So it will have EVs, plug-in hybrids, hybrid e-POWER, super-efficient petrol engines.

“So, as a mass market brand, we need diversification of segments and powertrains and so to think of a future EV within the portfolio is very realistic."

Will we see an electric X-Trail? The short answer is no.

"There's no confirmation of that product yet. There's things that we are working on," said Milette, adding that a mid-size electric SUV is coming.

"I mean, I can tell you it would not be under that nameplate," he said of an electric X-Trail, although he wouldn’t comfirm the NX8 for Australia just yet.

It's not the first time Nissan has kept the X-Trail name away from a plug.

Milette also told carsales that a medium plug-in hybrid SUV is "very likely" but added "…it may or may not be that [X-Trail] nameplate."

Senior product marketing manager Alex Pecanac all but confirmed a medium electric SUV is on coming.

"A lot of the growth that we've seen is in the medium SUV segment. It is really the leader in terms of the overall [mix] for the segments," he said.

"I think it's natural to assume that that medium SUV BEV opportunity is there. [We're] absolutely looking at something to fill that space."

Milette was even more blunt.

"It is the highest volume. You have to play in the medium SUV segment."

The numbers back him up, and they don't make pretty reading for Nissan.

September 2026 VFACTS data shows the medium SUV segment is up 22.3 per cent year-to-date to 256,445 sales, or 28 per cent of the whole market.

Electric SUV sales have gone through the roof, up 174.6 per cent to 108,035, and that's before you count Tesla – which is Australia’s third most popular vehicle thus far in 2026.

Indeed, the Model Y is the electric SUV that’s truly firing. Tesla delivered 4476 Model Ys in September, up 14 per cent, according to the Electric Vehicle Council.

That put it third overall, behind only the Ford Ranger and Toyota RAV4. The stretched, three-row Model Y L made up 47.8 per cent of Model Y sales over the past three months, showing there’s appetite for a larger, more expensive version.

The X-Trail, meanwhile, is going backwards. It managed 999 sales in September, down 28.8 per cent, and 10,086 year-to-date, down 17.4 per cent.

Nissan's only EV in the segment, the Ariya, is up 212.2 per cent year-to-date, but that's just 256 sales against 82 last year.

Milette conceded the Ariya was "still relatively small volume".

The Zeekr 7X has notched 10,800 sales over the same period and the Kia EV5 4722.

Milette said the flood of affordable Chinese EVs has reshaped the local market faster than anywhere else.

"I started my job in April and there are more brands today than when I started," he said.

"You wouldn't see that in other markets," he added, noting that the Australian new car market dynamics are constantly in flux.

Nissan isn't naming names, but its China joint venture has a stable of electric SUVs that could fit the bill. The brand has already flagged it has its "hand’s up" for several Chinese-market models.

First cab off the rank is the Frontier Pro PHEV ute.

The next-generation X-Trail is due by the end of 2027, so a separately badged medium EV would let Nissan attack Australia's biggest segment on two fronts, with a Model Y fighter wearing a fresh badge.

Just don't hold your breath for an X-Trail on a plug-only diet.

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