Nissan X-TRAIL Mountain Rescue hits the snow

A heavily modified but now blizzard-proof Nissan X-TRAIL Mountain Rescue vehicle has been unveiled overnight, created to assist emergency services at the Cervinia ski resort in Italy.

It’s based on the standard Nissan X-TRAIL e-POWER 4WD, however the hybrid-powered mid-size SUV required plenty of bespoke work for life in the snow.

The most obvious is the removal of the wheels to make way for four individual snow tracks, while the cabin has had the rear seats removed to make room for a stretcher to carry an injured skier, plus an onboard medic, as they travel to the nearest medical facility.

Externally, there’s a new purpose-built roof rack that carries the stretcher and snow shovels, and provides mounting points for a siren, flashing light bar and extra lamps.

Other changes include wider front and rear fenders, plus a front bumper that now neatly incorporates a winch and pair of reinforced tow hooks.

Since it rides 230mm higher than the road-going version, there’s also new side steps to aid access.

Motivating Nissan to create its new mountain-dwelling X-TRAIL is the e-POWER version’s advanced e-4ORCE all-wheel drive system.

The advanced traction-boosting hardware does without a mechanical connection between each axle and uses electric motors instead of the combustion engine to drive the wheels.

The set-up uses sensors and software to judge levels of grip and can react 1000 times quicker than a traditional 4x4.

More impressive is torque can be measured out differently to each individual wheel, ensuring the system can drag itself out of even the slipperiest situations.

As well as responding to emergencies, the X-TRAIL Mountain Rescue vehicle will also be used to promote ski slope etiquette using digital signs to encourage skiers and snowboarders to slow down in dangerous areas of the resort.

The signs themselves will be capable of monitoring the speed of those approaching and then display ‘thank you’ when they reduce their speed.

The Nissan X-TRAIL Mountain Rescue has emerged only a week after the Nissan X-TRAIL Crawler 4x4 concept premiered at the Tokyo Auto Salon.

The tough, more extreme Crawler features a high-lift suspension for greater ground clearance and 17-inch rims shod with huge all-terrain tyres and wider plastic front and rear guards.

Sadly, Nissan has yet to officially confirm it is plotting a more rugged-go anywhere take on the X-TRAIL for series production.

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