It’s probably safe to say the Nissan Qashqai is one of the models that revolutionized the global crossover segment when it was originally introduced back in 2006. Ever since then, it has always been among the company’s best-selling products and in February 2018, the third-generation Qashqai was unveiled to continue the legacy of its predecessors. Now, this vehicle has been spied with a refresh for the first time and it seems that the automaker will keep the visual updates down to the minimum.
The photos in the gallery attached below show a lightly camouflaged prototype with a disguise covering its front end. There are no fake body panels, which makes us believe this won’t be a dramatic redesign of the front fascia. Instead, the camouflage foil suggests we will be dealing with a modified bumper and new grille, as well as (possibly) slightly reshaped headlights. The lines that sneak through the camouflage could mean the C-shaped lighting clusters of the pre-facelift model could be replaced by more conventional units.
The side profile appears to be completely unchanged compared to the current Qashqai. There’s some camouflage covering the side skirts and the wheel arches, though that doesn’t necessarily mean Nissan is cooking up updates for those components. At the back, the sleek-looking taillights appear unmodified. The bumper, however, might be tweaked a little to better reflect the changes at the front.
The third-generation Qashqai went on sale in Europe without diesel engines and there’s no reason to believe this will change with the refreshed version of the crossover. Instead, we expect an even bigger focus on the 1.5-liter E-Power powertrain, in which the internal combustion engine acts as a generator and provides energy stored in a high-output battery pack. That electric energy powers a 190-horsepower (140-kilowatt) electric motor, giving the Qashqai almost an EV-like feeling but combined with the noise of an ICE. Alternatively, you can have the Qashqai with a mild-hybrid 1.3-liter turbocharged gas engine with either 138 hp (103 kW) or 156 hp (115 kW).
As a final note, it’s worth pointing out that the third-gen Qashqai is not available in the United States. Previously, the Japanese firm offered the crossover as the Rogue Sport stateside but currently, you can only find the previous generation of the model on Nissan’s American website as the 2022 Rogue Sport. That model is being discontinued.
