Nissan's electric SUV concept for Paris

Nissan plans for a battery-electric SUV concept to make its debut at the Paris motor show late next month, according to Jeff Fisher, Nissan Australia's General Manager of Media Enquiries.

"At Paris... [Nissan will] have an SUV concept, with zero emissions; so an electric SUV concept vehicle," he told motoring.com.au last week.

Could this be based on the Hi-Cross concept shown in Geneva earlier this year? Nissan has a history of developing themes through successive generations of concept cars. The Hi-Cross was a hybrid-drive vehicle with electrical componentry sourced from the LEAF and front wheels powered by a 2.0-litre supercharged and direct-injected four-cylinder driving through the CVT (continuously variable transmission) from the X-TRAIL.

With some packaging allowance already made for the Hi-Cross to accommodate the LEAF's electric-drive system, our bet is on the SUV concept making a new appearance in Paris, but without the internal-combustion mechanicals. While Mr Fisher could not confirm that the Paris concept would be based on the Hi-Cross, he did hint that the Geneva concept would be the template for a production compact SUV in the future.

"[Hi-Cross] was a compact SUV concept; X-TRAIL is a compact SUV so you can draw your own conclusions," he said.

But the Hi-Cross was a nominal seven-seater. The X-TRAIL seats only five, however the Dualis +2 can seat seven. Still, in light of the Hi-Cross's styling treatment, a replacement for the X-TRAIL seems more likely — and possibly introducing seven seats to combat rivals like Mitsubishi's Outlander.

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