Nissan’s Rogue Hybrid Wins a Wards 10 Best Award Before It Reaches Dealers
Nissan’s e-POWER system joins an all-electrified 2026 Wards list before the first Rogue Hybrid is sold in the U.S., and the EPA now rates the SR at 41 mpg city.
The 2027 Nissan Rogue Hybrid has picked up a 2026 Wards 10 Best Engines & Propulsion Systems award before a single example has been sold in the United States. The trophy goes to e-POWER, Nissan's series-hybrid system, which is making its U.S. debut in the Rogue this fall; we covered the full 2027 Rogue Hybrid pricing and specs when they were released in September.
The award comes with a second piece of news tucked into Nissan's announcement: the EPA estimate is now in. The Rogue Hybrid SR is rated at 41 mpg city, 36 mpg highway, and 38 mpg combined, according to Nissan. That city figure is 1 mpg better than the internal number the company quoted last month, when the EPA rating was still pending.
What the judges were scoring
WardsAuto's four-judge panel evaluated 26 nominated powertrains on horsepower, torque, noise and vibration, observed efficiency, and technology. The 2026 list is the first in the award's 32-year history without a gas-only engine: four battery-electric winners, four hybrids, and two plug-in hybrids. The Rogue Hybrid sits in the hybrid group alongside the Hyundai Palisade Hybrid, the Porsche 911 Carrera GTS T-Hybrid, and the 1,250-hp Chevrolet Corvette ZR1X.
At $43,035 as tested, per WardsAuto's winners announcement, the Nissan was the cheapest car on the list. Nissan says this is the 25th time a Nissan Group powertrain has made the annual list; the 2.0-liter VC-Turbo in the Altima won for 2020, and the Rogue's gas 1.5-liter turbo made the 2022 list.
Why e-POWER is different
Unlike the RAV4 or CR-V, where the gas engine and electric motors share propulsion duties through a transmission, the Rogue Hybrid's 148-hp turbocharged three-cylinder never turns the wheels. It works only as a generator and shuts off when the 1.67-kWh battery has enough charge. Two motors, 202 hp at the front and 134 hp at the rear, handle all of the driving, for a combined 225 hp and standard all-wheel drive, with no transmission in between. Nissan says the setup is the only one in the compact-SUV class with a fully electric drivetrain, and it is what allows e-Pedal one-pedal driving down to a complete stop.
It is also proven hardware. Nissan has sold nearly 2 million e-POWER vehicles in 68 countries since 2016, across three generations of the system, and the company says the U.S. version was retuned for American speeds, road surfaces, and driving habits.
The price question remains
The award doesn't change the math that matters at the dealership. Toyota's redesigned, hybrid-only RAV4 starts at $31,900 before a $1,450 destination fee and is rated at up to 42 mpg combined with all-wheel drive, according to Toyota; the Honda CR-V Hybrid is in the same territory, as our CR-V Hybrid vs RAV4 Hybrid comparison lays out. The Rogue Hybrid's $35,490 starting price (before $1,575 destination) buys dual-motor AWD as standard, which the base Toyota and Honda hybrids don't offer, but it still lands roughly $3,600 above the cheapest RAV4.
The bigger issue for buyers is timing. The only Rogue Hybrid available in 2026 is the $41,490 SR AWD with the SR Technology Package, in limited numbers. The SV, standard SR, and Platinum trims don't reach dealers until early 2027. That leaves Nissan, which reported a 7.8 percent retail gain in its third-quarter sales, with an award-winning hybrid it can't sell in volume for several more months. Nissan hasn't said how many SR Technology cars it will allocate this fall, and the announcement gives no update on the RAV4-competitive volume trims beyond "early 2027."
