Will we see the X-Trail ePower in the Philippines? Nissan neither confirms nor denies

We were recently invited to a small gathering with Nissan Philippines and Nissan Global’s executives. The discussion was open, with all topics on the table which also included NISMO, Nissan’s other exploits in motorsports, and its future hero cars like the GT-R and the hotly anticipated Fairlady Z. 

However, the meat of the discussion revolved mostly around the ePower platform, and the future of said technology. As we all know, there is currently only one model in the Nissan lineup that ePower, which is the Kicks. As the brand puts it, ePower is the perfect transitionary powertrain technology for emerging markets or markets that don’t yet have the infrastructure to support full battery-powered EVs. 

We asked a bunch of minor questions before heading into the juicy stuff, such as the future of NISMO and its potential in the Philippines, as well as future product plans. We were met with the answer of “it depends,” but the Fairlady Z is definitely a part of the Nissan lineup, and it should come to the Philippines eventually. We can expect updates to the Nissan GT-R as well, but that point was touched on a bit and the conversation shifted to EVs. 

Nissan is experimenting with the prospect of electrifying its more exciting models in the lineup, but nothing is set in stone for now. The brand is currently fiddling with both hybrid and EV technology to put in its halo cars, but Nissan’s Senior vice president for Global Product Strategy and Product Planning Division, Global Program Management, NISMO, Mr. Ivan Espinosa, he’s waiting to be “convinced.” Right now, Nissan’s at the crossroads with the inevitable phaseout of internal combustion technology in the industry, but whether it’ll go through a transitionary route is still up in the air. 

For the consumer, however, Nissan is more excited about selling EVs to the public. The price cut that the Nissan LEAF received was a breath of fresh air for potential buyers and early adopters. EVIDA law helped a lot with the model’s price cut, down to about P1.9 million Philippine Pesos, but ePower will be a main focus for the brand moving into the future in the Philippines. 

However, with only one model in the lineup, the Kicks, it left a bit of a question mark on our heads. As such, Espinosa, in particular, was fondly mentioning the Nissan X-Trail and the Qashqai ePower, which went on sale in Europe and other territories, with the X-Trail being Mr. Espinosa’s “new favorite.” With that in mind, that begged the question of whether the X-Trail would make it to the Philippines, and the answer was “it depends.” 

With the out-of-the-blue mentions and the push for ePower in the country, it seems like primetime for the X-Trail to make a comeback in the country. The storied nameplate has seen a lot of action back in the day, only to be pushed out by more affordable and newer entrants in the market. Perhaps one of the chief complaints about the Kicks is the limited amount of space, which is something that the X-Trail’s platform can solve. On top of this, we're also happy to mention that the X-Trail can also come as a seven-seater, which would make this model Nissan's first seven-seat crossover. 

Because of all of this, we feel that Nissan could be planning to bring the X-Trail ePower into the Philippines. Frankly, this is all just speculation. With the Nissan executives being well-trained on the public relations front, we got no definite yeses and nos. Even so, we’re excited to see Nissan so excited about its ePower cars. The Philippines is definitely ready for ePower. We’re excited to see the future models in the Nissan lineup come with the powertrain technology so we’re keeping our eyes glued on Nissan Philippines to see what they will do next.