It’s just a concept but the Crawler shows what the new X-Trail is capable of.
If you think the new Nissan X-Trail SUV was designed purely for the school run, Nissan is looking to prove you wrong with the X-Trail Crawler Concept. Although it doesn’t preview a production variant, the Crawler will be on display at this year’s Tokyo Auto Salon.
Unlike the wacky ‘Hyper’ series of concepts that the Japanese firm revealed at the Tokyo Motor Show in October last year, the Crawler Concept is based on a current production model. Nissan appears to have left no stone unturned when it comes to giving the X-Trail as much off-road ability as possible.
After a shadowy teaser picture that didn’t give too much away, we can now see the Crawler Concept fully revealed – from the front at least. The changes to the X-Trail’s bodywork are pretty comprehensive, there’s a new-look front end with a completely revised bonnet and front bumper – allowing for greater ground clearance and angle of approach. Two tow hooks are readily available at the front as well, in the unlikely situation that the Crawler should get stuck.
The plastic cladding of the front bumper wraps around the wheel arches where we see a set of massive chunky tyres wrapped around 17-inch alloy wheels designed for off-road use. There’s a lot more room for wheel travel within the arches too thanks to the raised suspension. Along with the LED light strip at the front, the Crawler sports a roof rack with nine individual LED light clusters on the front.
Nissan says the Crawler Concept “has a boosted off-road flavour and gear toughness”. Adding that: “The exterior represents a world of rock-crawling, running through steep and rough terrain, and the luggage area contains the tools that have always been looked for in the X-Trail.”
Given the focus on off-road capacity, the Crawler Concept uses the four-wheel drive powertrain of the standard X-Trail, rather than the lesser-powered front-wheel drive set up. This means 157kW from a dual-motor configuration and a 1.5-litre petrol engine.