We generally take it for granted that what applies for the United States extends to the Canadian market as well. But that's not always the case, especially for Nissan.

Take this new sub-compact crossover, for example. What's sold overseas as the Qashqai just marked its US debut at the Detroit Auto Show, rebadged as the Rogue Sport. So you'd figure it'd be called the Rogue Sport in Canada also, right? Only it's not. Instead, Nissan opted to keep the Qashqai name up north.


It's not that the Rogue nameplate doesn't carry enough clout in Canada. In fact the larger Rogue is the company's top seller there. Maybe multilingual Canadians are just better disposed towards wrapping their heads around the odd Qashqai name.

The Qashqai/Rogue Sport split isn't the only thing that Nissan does north of the border differently than it does to the south. Canadians can get the Micra hatchback (as well as the Renault Twizy electric commuter), and even take part in a low-budget racing series built around it. None of those are available in the US, where Nissan does, conversely, offer the Versa sedan that's not sold in Canada.