Nissan Qashqai set to go all-electric

Exclusive: ‘We are committed to an electric future and a sustainable future’, says Nissan CEO Ivan Espinosa

The Nissan Qashqai is one of Britain’s best-selling cars and only petrol and hybrid versions are currently available (Nissan)

One of Britain’s best-selling cars, the Nissan Qashqai, is set to go all-electric – according to Nissan CEO Ivan Espinosa.

The Qashqai was the third best-selling car in the UK last year, with 41,141 models finding homes, while it also topped the UK sales charts in 2022.

Currently Nissan only sells petrol and hybrid Qashqais – all built in the brand’s giant UK plant in Sunderland. The hybrid Qashqai uses innovative e-Power technology that sees a petrol engine charge a battery, which then powers the wheels to give an EV-like driving experience.

An all-electric Nissan Juke will be unveiled later this year and is expected to be built in Sunderland (Nissan)

The new all-electric Nissan Leaf, one of 10 new models in the running for a World Car of the Year Award, is also built in Sunderland alongside the Qashqai. Meanwhile, a new all-electric Nissan Juke is set to be built there, too. The new Juke should break cover later this year.

Now Ivan Espinosa, who took over as Nissan CEO last April, has confirmed that the Qashqai – and Nissan’s other models – are in line for full electrification. Asked specifically if Qashqai would be going electric, Espinosa said: “We will be electrifying, gradually, the lineup.”

The new Nissan Leaf has been shortlisted for World Car of the Year (Nissan)

Espinosa reaffirmed Nissan’s trajectory towards full electrification and the part that EVs will play in a more holistic home energy solution. “We are committed to an electric future and a sustainable future,” he said, adding: “We will continue investing in our EV portfolio and we will continue scaling up technologies for the future, mostly transforming EVs into mobile energy sources and we are committed to creating a full integrated ecosystem that will help the integration of cars to society and help us manage energy through the vehicles.”

However, the pace at which Nissan plans to electrify its model range has changed, with Espinosa saying: “There's some adjustment at the speed at which EVs are coming into the market for a combination of reasons. One of them is customer demand and the other is of course the infrastructure. The other is the support that some governments were putting into this initiative and the last one of them is the regulatory framework which is also evolving.

“We will continue because we think their future in the end will be an EV market. The market will be predominantly EV at some point in time, but we're adjusting the pace.”

Espinosa also confirmed that Nissan could be bringing more plug-in hybrids and range extender technology to its model range – plug-in hybrid sales jumped 35 per cent in the UK last year.

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“The good thing about Nissan is we have many technologies available. We have our hybrid signature technology, which is e-Power, and we also have derivatives of this technology that could come in the form of a plug-in hybrid or a range extended EV.

“The market is very dynamic, so it's hard to tell you what will come when because it most likely will change with the direction the world is moving, at the speed at which it is moving. But the good thing is with the combination of the technology that we have on our shelf, plus the speed at which we are capable of developing cars, now we can be much closer in tune with market requirements – and this is what we'll be doing.”

There’s no word yet on what technology might underpin an all-electric Qashqai, but sharing battery and platform tech with Renault is a strong possibility. The new Leaf, upcoming Nissan Micra and current Nissan Ariya all benefit from Nissan’s close relationship with the French company, while an upcoming small electric Nissan – likely to be called Nissan Wave – will be based on the new Renault Twingo.