Nissan is bringing something that could be refreshingly outrageous to the 2017 New York Motor Show: a family-friendly crossover on tank tracks. Why? Mainly because they probably felt like it, and secondarily due to them knowing it would cause people like us to take a look at it.
Called the Nissan Rogue Warrior Trail Project, it’s far from their first foray into the militarised motif in recent years. In 2016, Nissan brought a trio of similar SUVs with caterpillar tracks, fitted to the Rogue, Murano, and Pathfinder, but optimised for snow and dubbed ‘Winter Warrior’ to the Chicago Motor Show. The madness can be traced to 2015, when there was the Juke Nismo RSnow Concept.
For those unfamiliar, the name ‘Rogue’ is the alternative moniker given to the Nissan X-Trail sold in North America.
Onto the Rogue Warrior Trail Project, and like the similarly modified version last year, is a pretty standard crossover body with the main difference being its lack of traditional round wheels tyres and a much larger contact patch courtesy of the continuous tracks provided by Dominator, a division of American Track Truck Inc.
They measure 48-inches long, 30-inches high, and 15-inches wide, with the necessary modifications made to the suspension made to accommodate the extra capable contact patches. The body itself wrapped in khaki camouflage, has custom fender flares, roof-mounted LED light bar, and a Warn 4K winch.
In terms of what powers the Rogue ‘Warrior’, it’s pretty standard fare Nissan - a 2.5-litre naturally aspirated four-cylinder petrol rated at 127kW and 237Nm of torque, mated to an Xtronic CVT. Decidedly much less intimidating mechanical package than the exterior would lead you to believe.
"This new Rogue Trail Warrior adds a new dimension to family adventures with its snow/sand tracks, gear basket, winch and camo paint," said Michael Bunce, vice president, Product Planning, Nissan North America, Inc. "If you want to stand out from the crowd during a day on the slopes or the beach, this is the vehicle to take.”
Nissan spent 3 years in a row bringing out these crossovers and SUVs with caterpillar tracks. They’re either running out of ideas or seriously considering offering them as optional extras, which would be an inspired move. Instead of larger alloys, why not ‘tankify’ your X-Trail?
For more on Nissan vehicles, including pricing and specifications, check out our Showroom.
