Nissan launches Rogue Sport at Detroit

Nissan is launching a smaller version of the Rogue (aka X-Trail) crossover to appeal to those wanting a more compact vehicle. The shorter and presumably nimbler Rogue Sport features two rows of seats to the X-Trail’s three rows. Nissan is zeroing in on singles and couples without kids, including empty nesters. Here’s the news from Nissan:

The new 2017 Nissan Rogue Sport, which is designed to expand the audience for Nissans top-selling Rogue crossover when it goes on sale this spring, is set to make its auto show debut at the North American International Auto Show.

The redesigned Rogue broke Nissan’s all-time U.S. single month sales record for an individual model in December 2016 with sales of 40,477 units. Rogue also passed Nissan’s longtime sales leader, Altima, for the 2016 calendar year Nissan U.S. sales crown.

“The new Rogue Sport is a perfect addition to the red hot Rogue lineup, which is also adding a first-ever Rogue Hybrid model for 2017,” said Michael Bunce, vice president, Product Planning, Nissan North America, Inc. “With Rogue Sport’s slightly smaller dimensions and sporty maneuverability, it’s ideal for singles or couples without kids – or empty nesters – who want a sportier vehicle and can live with a little less cargo capacity than the current Rogue offers.”

Rogue Sport has a 58mm (2.3-inch) shorter wheelbase and a 307mm (12.1-inch) shorter overall length than Rogue, helping make it more maneuverable in city traffic and an ideal size for tight city parking spaces. Other helpful city adventure features range from up to 1727 liters (61.1 cubic feet) of cargo space (2nd row seat folded) and available innovative Divide-N-Hide Cargo System to the Around View Monitor (AVM) with Moving Object Detection (MOD).

Rogue Sport offers available Nissan Intelligent Safety Shield technologies including Forward Emergency Braking with Pedestrian Detection, Intelligent Cruise Control, Rear Cross Traffic Alert and Forward Emergency Braking.

Rogue Sport is offered with a standard 141-horsepower 2.0-liter DOHC 16-valve inline 4-cylinder Direct Injection Gasoline (DIG™) system engine and Xtronic transmission. It goes on sale at Nissan dealers nationwide – in a choice of S, SV and SL grade levels – beginning in spring 2017.