Oct 27, 2023 - 18:33
By autoweek.com

Nissan Brings 3 Nismo Concepts to SEMA (That All Drive!), and Infiniti Brings 1 Too

Nissan is back at SEMA this year with three NISMO concepts loaded with custom and NISMO parts, while Infiniti has an upgraded Q50.
A Rogue, a Frontier, and a Sentra get loaded in Vegas.
They’re just concepts but with a big enough budget you could buy a lot of these parts to customize your own ride right at the NISMO Nissan dealer.

Nissan is one of the carmakers that didn’t abandon SEMA when every other manufacturer was jumping ship and concentrating on spam, or whatever they replaced car shows with to reach customers. No, Nissan hung in there. And this year Nissan’s bringing three cool concepts to the big show in Las Vegas: two off-roaders and a track-ready Sentra.

VIEW PHOTOSProject Rugged Rogue takes the diminutive cute ute and remakes it as a rock-bashing off-roader.

Project Rugged Rogue

Let’s start with the Rogue, since it is by far the biggest seller of the Nissan nameplate.

Project Rugged Rogue may sound like a mis-parked item from Project Runway, but it is, in fact, a thoroughly off-road-capable version of Nissan’s ubiquitous compact crossover. Nissan sold over 211,000 Rogues so far this year—more than twice what its two best-selling cars did—so it’s not like it really needs the publicity. Nonetheless, Project Rugged Rogue looks like it could conquer the Kalahari with confidence.

2024 Nissan Rogue Puts Technology First

The build takes the normally suburban cute ute and jacks it up three inches with a custom NISMO lift kit riding on 275/65/18 Yokohama Geolander M/T G003 tires on prototype NISMO off-road wheels.

A lot more parts that say either Prototype or Custom round out the build: custom NISMO off-road rock rails, custom NISMO dual center exhaust, custom carbon-fiber fender flares and rear spoiler, prototype NISMO roof rack with NISMO off-road 6-inch round driving lights, prototype NISMO off-road front bumper guard with more NISMO 6-inch round driving lights, and still more driving lights (these merely 4-inchers) on the hood. And don’t forget the roof-mounted kayak and mountain bike racks.

VIEW PHOTOSThe Forsberg Frontier Off-Road Race Truck in action in Baja on its way to winning its class in the the NORRA 500.