Roman holiday for Nissan’s crossover fleet

Nissan Europe hosted WWCOTY at Rome to reveals its updated SUV range. Photo: Nissan

It’s going to be a busy 2025 for Nissan globally with the launch of the all-new Leaf, a new compact EV plus changes to its crossovers, so the brand picked Rome to highlight its successes.

In a world first, Nissan first hosted the judges of the Women’s Worldwide Car of the Year in the Eternal City with an event the following day for Italian journalists.

The Women’s Worldwide Car of the Year (WWCOTY) Nissan day had the largest group of female automotive journalists ever.

Nissan was hosting 35 judges from the Women’s Worldwide Car of the Year. Photo: NIssan

The event had 35 judges from around the globe, including many European countries, plus Dubai, India, Cyrus and me, from New Zealand.

We were hosted by Katherine Zachary, Nissa’s vice president of communications for Africa, Middle East, India, Europe & Oceania, and her Paris-based colleagues.

Nissan not only had the Rome event for its SUV fleet, titled a Crossover State of Mind, but also included revealing a new performance model.

The standout crossover for Nissan has been the Juke, with the compact SUV launched in 2011, and it created a new segment.

Blimmin’ paparrazzi! A Nissan videographer checks out my Juke. Photo: Liz Dobson

Paris-based Juke product planner, Emmanuel Valin, told us that the Juke went from “zero to 20 competitors in five years”.

“There are now 40 competitors and this second generation’s freshed has had a few design changes as customers really loved the shape,” he said.

“It’s high mounted headlamps, athletic body shape is very bold and very iconic.”

Instead, Nissan focused on updating the interior 

“We have completely renewed the dashboard with two very large screens that makes the Juke up to date for the segment,” said Valin.

The seven-seater X-Trail performed well on the back roads around Rome.

The Juke now gets two 12.2in screens, hi-res screens and importantly physical buttons for important functions rather than having to navigate the screen.

Another important update is that it now gets a 1.6-litre 4-cylinder hybrid petrol engine, producing 69kW/128Nm.

The next Nissan product to get a refresh is the European favourite Qashqai (pronounced cash-kai). 

The third generation was launched in 2021 with it getting a glow-up in 2025.

There have been four million built at Nissan’s UK Sunderland plant with the updated Qashqai and this new model has a bolder appearance.

The hybrid SUV is promoted by Nissan as the vehicle to own if you’re not ready for a fully electric vehicle.

The Nissan Qashqai had to navigate narrow village roads. Photo: Liz Dobson

It has had a technology update with Google embedded in the infotainment screen.

Another Nissan vehicle that has been updated is the globally successful X-Trail seven seater. 

It has been popular in the USA and now the fourth-generation SUV has been improved with a modern, upscale interior design and gives buyers both hybrid (ePower) and all-wheel-drive (e-Force). 

After the presentation, we drove the three updated Nissan crossovers from our accommodation, Park Hotel Villa Grazioli, at the foothills of Rome, to the mountain villages nearby.

In the morning, I tested the Qashqai and after a navigation error (by me) I accidentally drove through a tiny church courtyard with the SUV’s sensors hard at work as I narrowly missed the concrete pillars.

The line-up of Nissan crossovers ready for the press drive. Photo: NIssan

But I was overall impressed with its handling, especially through winding tight country roads.

In the afternoon, it was a new route for the X-Trail and Juke where we headed further away from the towns into the countryside, driving at up to 90km/h. The X-Trail maneuvered superbly through some tight bends and I had plenty of power driving up a long, straight mountain road.

You either love or hate the Juke’s exterior but no matter what you feel about the looks its a perky crossover that made for dynamic driving.

And talking about dynamic, we also tested a sporty version of the all electric Ariya – stayed tuned for that review.

WWCOTY is made up of 82 professional journalists working in 55 countries on different continents, who vote to recognise the best cars of the year for their design, safety, efficiency and innovation, among other aspects.

There were three updated crossovers and a sporty Ariya (second from right). Photo: Nissan