Hybrid Nissan Murano SUV makes auto show appearance

At the Shanghai auto show this week, Nissan displayed a hybrid version of the redesigned 2015 Murano SUV, which will go on sale in China this summer. Nissan released few details about the vehicle's performance and fuel economy except to say that it would use a supercharged four-cylinder gasoline engine, an electric motor, and a "compact" lithium-ion battery pack.

With a combined 250-horsepower (230 hp from the gas engine and 20 hp from the electric motor) the electrified Murano will have power similar to Nissan's ubiquitous 3.5-liter V6 with the fuel economy of a 2.0-liter, Nissan said.

Although Toyota is widely regarded as the leader in hybrid technology, Nissan is no stranger to the art. It already offers a hybrid version of the Infiniti QX60 and the Nissan Pathfinder. The hybrid powertrains offered in those SUVs sound identical to the one planned for the hybrid Murano. That suggests that the gasoline part is a supercharged 2.5-liter four-cylinder.

You could consider this a mild-hybrid approach, since the relatively small electric motor and battery pack supplement the gas engine during hard acceleration and the electric motor does not by itself move the vehicle. The hybridization treatment runs about $3,000 extra in the QX60, and we would guess that a similar price differential would hold for the Murano.

Nissan hasn't said whether it will bring the hybrid Murano to this country, but an industry source says it might appear here in the summer of 2016.

We like the newest Murano. It has a decidedly upscale and comfortable interior with up-to-date electronic features and convenient controls, and it has been performing well in our tests. (The full road test has not been completed.)

Whether a hybrid version would pay for itself in lowered fuel costs in some reasonable period of ownership, however, is open to question with fuel prices as low as they are right now.

Read our Murano first drive.

—Gordon Hard