SPY PICS: Facelifted Nissan Rogue hints at X-TRAIL update
New Nissan X-TRAIL’s US counterpart is already in its fourth year, which makes it just about time for a faceliftOur spy photographers have captured a semi-disguised Nissan Rogue being tested in the US, suggesting a mid-life facelift is already on the way for Nissan’s popular mid-size SUV, which is sold in Australia as the Nissan X-TRAIL.
This may seem like an odd move given the current generation only launched in Japan, Europe and Australia last year, but the latest Nissan Rogue has been on sale in North America since late 2020.
That places the Rogue right in the middle of its approximate six-year lifecycle and makes it ripe for an update, even if that update is little more than a styling tweak.
Wearing camouflaged bumpers and a masked front fascia, it’s hard to tell exactly what’s changed about the design on this pre-production vehicle, but it appears there’ll be a new layered grille and subtly revised bumper designs at both ends.
One thing we can tell for sure about this stealthy test vehicle is the headlight and tail-light clusters have been left untouched.
Our contacts in Michigan tell us no mechanical changes are on the way, meaning the US-spec Rogue will continue on with the same 1.5-litre three-cylinder turbo-petrol engine as before – the Canadian market also has access to the 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine that powers most X-TRAILs in Australia.
The inside word is the facelifted Rogue will debut and launch in its native market later this year, possibly previewing what the updated X-TRAIL will look like for the rest of the world in a couple of years.
Rumour has it these particular design tweaks will make their way across to Nissan’s other North American models and should therefore appear on the Series II Pathfinder and possibly even the next-gen Armada (Patrol).
Speaking of the Toyota LandCruiser fighter, a camouflaged Infiniti QX80 – the Nissan Armada/Patrol’s luxury sister model – was spotted testing on exactly the same strip of road this time last month.
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