Car manufacturer Nissan has unveiled an unorthodox, one-off version of its X-Trail SUV with an all-terrain style – fitted with tracks instead of tyres.
It would certainly make herding livestock in difficult-to-reach locations more straight-forward.
Designed for travelling on snow, sand and other difficult terrain, the vehicle’s replacements for standard wheels are 122cm-long, 38cm-wide tracks – created for extra grip. The tracks are ‘Dominator’ units supplied by the US company American Track Truck Inc.
This X-Trail, known in America as the Nissan Rogue, has modified suspension and wheel arches to accommodate the tracks. However, the vehicle is powered by a standard 2.5L, 4-cylinder petrol engine (found in ordinary, US-specification X-Trail models), with the majority of the vehicle much the same as the ‘regular’ version.
The 170hp block is capable of churning out about 237Nm of torque which, according to Nissan, is plenty for “climbing snow banks and sand dunes” (or, in an Irish context, hills and bog-land).
The eye-catching SUV was on display at the New York International Auto Show last month, with the concept model dubbed the Nissan Rogue Trail Warrior.
The concept model is kitted out with LED lights, custom fender flares and a Warn 4K winch. To finish off the adventurous styling, the Rogue has military-type yellow tinted windows and camouflage paintwork (handy, perhaps, for disguising dirt and cow dung).
While the tracked Rogue Warrior is merely a one-off, the 2017 updated X-Trail standard ‘wheeled’ model is now available around the country with prices from €29,995.
