If I asked you to draw the current Nissan Rogue from memory, there’s a good chance the closest you could get would be a vague crossover-y shape. They just aren’t cars people actually remember. And yet, looking at the photos of the 2026 Nissan Rogue Plug-In Hybrid, I suspect most of you could accurately guess the SUV you’re looking at isn’t simply a third-gen Rogue with a plug-in hybrid powertrain. No, it’s a Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-In Hybrid with a Nissan badge and a slightly different grille insert.
Search Nissan’s press release for the 2026 Rogue PHEV, and you won’t find the name “Mitsubishi” mentioned even once, but then again, how many Rogue PHEV buyers do you think will actually care? It’s an SUV that gets standard all-wheel drive and good gas mileage. Who cares which company did the development work? On the other hand, this just feels like such a cynical move. This isn’t some Honda Prologue situation where you can find the GM parts if you look, but it still has its own distinct styling inside and out. Nissan literally just slapped a Nissan badge on the Mitsubishi Outlander and called it a day, like it was still 1995 and not 2025. This is especially funny because this latest generation of Outlander is itself based on the same platform as the current Rogue, and uses the same powertrain in non-PHEV guise.
That said, Mitsubishi’s plug-in hybrid powertrain is pretty solid. It comes with a 20-kWh battery that provides 38 miles of electric range, and the car is rated at 64 MPGe if you plug it in regularly. Of course, if you don’t plug it in, your gas mileage will take a hit, and you can expect to average about 26 mpg. But everyone who owns a PHEV always remembers to plug it in at night, right? When you aren’t running on electricity alone, power also comes from a naturally aspirated 2.4-liter four-cylinder, and in combination with the electric motor, a total of 248 horsepower and 332 pound-feet of torque is sent to all four wheels. Unlike the Mitsubishi, which can DC fast-charge at up to 50 kW, the Rogue PHEV doesn’t offer fast-charging capability, with the Outlander’s CHAdeMO port blocked off.
It’s a Mitsubishi but not
Inside, it’s the same story you get on the outside — a bog-standard Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV cabin with a couple of Nissan-specific touches added to fool buyers into thinking they’re buying a Nissan. But a Nissan badge on the steering wheel, Rogue-branded sill plates, and differently quilted leather on the fancier of the two trims can’t hide the fact that you could get literally the exact same car at the Mitsubishi dealer across the street.
The good news is, the Outlander’s cabin has a pretty nice design. It won’t fool you into thinking you’re driving a Lexus, but even with hollow-sounding doors and plenty of cheap plastics, the whole thing at least looks good. Also, Mitsubishi originally borrowed the Outlander’s infotainment screen from Nissan, so there’s actually more Nissan in there than you might think. You also get a lot of features for your money, as well as a spacious second row and a tiny little third row that you can use in emergencies, something the normal Rogue doesn’t offer. They better be serious emergencies, though, because the way-back is tight. If you need to use the third row regularly, buy a different SUV.
But while the Rogue PHEV really is just a hastily rebadged Mitsubishi, Nissan does at least offer its standard suite of safety features, including automated emergency braking with pedestrian detection, high-beam assist, lane departure warning, rear cross-traffic alert, blind spot warning, and rear automated braking. It also includes a standard surround-view camera system and Level 2 Nissan’s ProPilot Assist 1.12 software.
We don’t know how much it will cost
When the 2026 Nissan Rogue Plug-In Hybrid hits dealers early next year, customers will have two trim levels to choose from, the base SL and the top-end Platinum. Upgrading to the Platinum adds a 10-inch head-up display, a nine-speaker Bose sound system that actually sounds pretty good, a power-opening panoramic sunroof, heated rear seats, leather upholstery, rear sunshades, two 120-volt power outlets, a heated steering wheel, and gloss black roof rails. Gotta have those gloss black roof rails, you know?
As far as pricing goes, Nissan still isn’t talking specifics, but since we’re talking about an incredibly basic rebadge of a car that already exists, it’s probably safe to assume the 2026 Rogue PHEV will cost about the same as the Outlander PHEV. So expect a base price in the low-$40,000 range, with the fully loaded version breaking into the low 50s. That’s a heck of a lot of money to spend on a rebadged Mitsubishi, but these days, it’ll probably be considered a pretty good deal. Hopefully we don’t have to wait long to get Nissan’s official pricing.
