Nissan Rogue Sport will allegedly retire in early 2023
Act fast if you’re in the market for a new Nissan Rogue Sport. The city-friendly crossover is months away from sailing into retirement, according to unnamed dealer sources, and the Japanese company isn’t planning on launching a second-generation model in our market.
Citing a memo that Nissan sent to its dealers, Automotive News reported that Rogue Sport production will end in December 2022.
“With the all-new Rogue and the recently redesigned Kicks, we will continue to cover this part of [the] market effectively,” Nissan vice president Scott Shirley wrote in the note. “We are also able to invest more resources in our current vehicles and next-generation products.”
The news of the Rogue Sport’s demise doesn’t come as a surprise. Launched for 2017, the crossover is essentially an Americanized version of the second-generation Qashqai that went on sale in many global markets in 2013; it’s a much older design than it might seem. While the Qashqai remains hugely popular in Europe, where it’s considered right-sized, it hasn’t been a hit in the United States, and the bigger Rogue outsells it by a wide margin. Specific figures are not available; Nissan lumps Rogue and Rogue Sport sales into one number.
Nissan will invest the money it saves by canceling the Rogue Sport into better-selling cars like the Rogue, the Kicks and the Pathfinder. It renewed the Rogue and the Pathfinder in 2021 and 2022, respectively, and anonymous dealer sources revealed the firm has big updates planned for the Kicks. The second-generation model due out in 2024 will be longer, wider, “more SUV-like” and offered with all-wheel-drive.
Rogue Sport production is scheduled to end in December 2022 but sales will continue into 2023 until inventory runs out. It’s a different story in Europe: the third-generation Qashqai made its debut in early 2021 with a more muscular-looking design and a more upmarket cabin.
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