New Nissan QASHQAI teased

The third-generation Nissan QASHQAI will be much edgier when it makes its debut in 2021, judging by these first official teaser images released tonight.

Confirmed to make its world debut in the northern hemisphere spring (our autumn) next year, the all-new 2021 Nissan QASHQAI is yet to be confirmed for Australia, but is odds-on for release Down Under in 2021 too.

Along with a package of camouflaged images, a tightly cropped shot of an undisguised vehicle shows the new QASHQAI will present super-slim headlights, a clamshell bonnet and ‘QASHQAI’ embossing on the front bumper.

Effectively a smaller, European-developed version of the fourth-generation Nissan X-TRAIL (aka Rogue) revealed in June in the US, the new QASHQAI replaces a model last updated with fresh technology and safety features in 2020.

As such, it rides on the same new Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance CMF-C platform and will also offer an e-POWER hybrid powertrain for the first time.

Nissan says the new QASHQAI’s body in white employs more lightweight material, advanced stamping and welding techniques to increase strength and, for the first time, a rear hatchback made from composite material, saving 2.6kg.

The doors, quarter guards and bonnet are now made of aluminium, cutting 21kg of weight from the outgoing model’s body and helping to make it 60kg lighter in total.

Nissan also says it will be 41 per cent stiffer, and that the CMF-C platform boasts torsional rigidity of vehicles from a higher segment.

Combined with updated steering and MacPherson strut front and rear suspension (except for two-wheel drive models with wheel sizes up to 19-inch, which stick with a torsion-beam set-up), Nissan promises improved ride, handling and refinement.

In Europe, two electrified powertrains will be available, including two versions of a 1.3-litre petrol engine with mild-hybrid tech in the form of a belt-driven generator to harvest braking energy, and the first deployment of Nissan’s e-POWER drive system.

Full details remain TBC, but e-POWER will bring full electric motor drive, in which the wheels are completely driven by the electric motor. The motor is powered by a high-output battery, which in turn is charged by a petrol engine.

Nissan is also promising an upgraded, more intuitive driver assistance package called ProPILOT with Navi-link, bringing greater driver support in a wider array of circumstances and offering autonomous stop/start and lane-keeping capability.

Other new tech will include Intelligent LED headlights that adapt the shape of their beam, which is divided into 12 individual elements, according to road conditions and other road users.

Nissan, which says it will release more info in the coming weeks, has sold more than five million examples of the QASHQAI since the first generation arrived in 2007, including more than a million units of the current model launched in 2014.