Nissan's humble Qashqai has set a Guinness World Record, covering 1980km on a single tank with no charging and no refuelling. The run went from Bogota to Colombia's Caribbean coast over three days in July, and was verified by Guinness as the longest journey by a non plug in extended range EV SUV without external charging or refuelling.
Gravity did some of the work
The route dropped from roughly 2600m elevation, so downhill running helped the number along, and the 55 litre tank implies a run rate of about 2.78L per 100km over the record attempt. The same e-Power hybrid system is officially rated at 4.1L per 100km in Australia, which still works out to around 1341km from a full tank in normal driving. It is a series hybrid setup, meaning the petrol engine only ever charges the battery and never drives the wheels directly, with no plug involved anywhere.
Cartell Assessment
A downhill record run is a marketing exercise and Nissan will take the trophy, but the underlying number, 4.1L per 100km in a mainstream family SUV, is the part that actually matters at the bowser. For buyers cross shopping hybrids, the efficiency is the real story here, not the stunt that generated the headline.
AU Outlook
Expect Nissan to lean on this record in Qashqai e-POWER marketing through the rest of the year. The bigger competitive question is whether Toyota and other hybrid SUV rivals can match that real world fuel figure, because that is the number families will actually notice on a regular tank fill, not a downhill run in Colombia.
