For some time, we’ve known that Nissan’s long-term electric car strategy includes developing several more electric models over the next few years, including commercial vehicles and luxury cars. 

Now it appears that an all-electric SUV may feature in Nissan’s future, with the news that it plans to unveil an electric compact SUV concept car at this year’s Paris Motor Show.

“At Paris...[Nissan will] have an SUV concept, with zero emissions; so an electric SUV concept vehicle,” Jeff Fisher, Nissan Australia’s General Manager of Media Enquiries told motoring.com.au last week

Although unconfirmed, it could be based on Nissan’s Hi-Cross hybrid concept car we saw in Geneva this year. 

Designed as a replacement for the X-trail -- a compact SUV similar in size to the current Nissan Rogue and popular in Europe and Japan but not sold in the U.S. -- the Hi-Cross was powered by a 2.0-liter supercharged, direct-injected four-cylinder engine and Nissan's new hybrid CVT drivetrain.

Evolving the Hi-Cross into an all-electric concept should be fairly simple, especially with the powerful 80 kilowatt-motors from the 2012 Nissan Leaf available.

Nissan Hi-Cross Concept - 2012 Geneva Motor Show

Nissan Hi-Cross Concept - 2012 Geneva Motor Show

“[Hi-Cross] was a compact SUV concept; X-Trail is a compact SUV so you can draw your own conclusions,” said Fisher. 

With cars like the 2012 Toyota RAV4 EV already in (limited) production, Tesla promising its Model X crossover compact luxury SUV by the end of 2013, and Mitsubishi planning to bring a plug-in hybrid SUV to market in the near future, an all-electric SUV would be a smart move for NIssan. 

However, it’s worth noting that unveiling an electric concept car does not necessarily indicate Nissan has production plans for an electric SUV, even if it has already invested over $4 Billion in electric cars, 

Do you think Nissan is developing an electric SUV? Would you buy one? 

Let us know in the Comments below. 

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