The Nissan Frontier, America’s Last Simple Truck, Will Go Hybrid

In a world where even the Toyota Tacoma has gone modern, Nissan‘s Frontier pickup is novel for its simplicity. Some folks still like that, including us here at The Drive; we published a review of the truck just last month, saying “it’s better because it’s worse.” It doesn’t have all the tech or specs that the others do, and it’s great arguably because of that. A MotorTrend report has me worried that might go away soon, though, as a Nissan exec told the outlet that the Frontier will go hybrid by 2028.

In a conversation with MotorTrend, Nissan Americas Chief Planning Officer Ponz Pandikuthira said the Frontier can’t stay gas-only forever. “For its lifecycle to make sense and be compliant, it will have to be electrified,” he explained.

Nissan’s midsize truck currently offers a 3.8-liter V6 making 310 horsepower and 281 lb-ft of torque as the lone powertrain option. And while the automaker could presumably make that engine work with an electric motor, my gut tells me it won’t. Instead, it seems more likely that Nissan will work in one of its smaller turbocharged engines, one that the Frontier could share with another model.

In case you hadn’t noticed, Nissan doesn’t offer any hybrids in the United States right now. A plug-in hybrid Rogue crossover is coming for 2026, however, which makes this comment from Pandikuthira even more interesting: “To keep that full spectrum of use, I think a plug-in hybrid would be the ultimate solution. We’re still working on it.”

I think it’s too big of a leap to conclude from that quote alone that the Frontier will get a plug-in hybrid option. Sure, it might be the “ultimate solution,” but that doesn’t exactly mean it’s a feasible one. Pandikuthira went on to say that in a perfect world, Nissan could find “a global convergence solution” so the Frontier could share more with the brand’s midsize Navarra pickup that’s sold globally but not in the States.

Let me conclude by saying that electrification in and of itself should not be an immediate cause for concern. Major car manufacturers have built reliable hybrids for years. It’s just that the Frontier is the last simple truck standing in the U.S. without so much as a turbocharger to complicate things, and making the jump to hybrid could mean a fundamental change for the pickup.

Here’s hoping its back-to-basics reputation survives the switch.

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