This year’s Chicago Auto Show is shaping up to be a bonanza of special edition models, with every other debut being some sort of tweaked and tuned car, truck, or crossover. Nissan is no different, announcing that no less than five models will now enjoy the Midnight Edition special trimmings. Originally slated solely for the Maxima SR trim grade, the Midnight Edition package now makes its way to the Murano mid-size crossover, bearing visual updates like blacked-out wheels, trim pieces, and aero, as well as offering optional special edition floor mats.

In addition to the Murano, the Midnight Edition package can also be had with the Sentra, Altima, Rogue, and Pathfinder, not to mention the original Maxima as well. The move makes sense for a number of reasons – not only are blacked-out special editions particularly popular right now, but Nissan has divulged that the original Midnight Edition package was included in an impressive 85 percent of sales when it was originally just for the Maxima SR. As such, it makes sense to extend the styling tweaks to the models that make up the majority of Nissan’s U.S. sales.

For the Murano, the Midnight Edition package was made available for the Platinum trim level, the highest in the range. Like the other Midnight Edition models, the Murano Midnight Edition gets new wheels, a black spoiler, black side-view mirrors, and optional special edition floor mats.

The Murano’s exclusive wheels come with a 20-inch diameter and are made from aluminum alloy. The Murano’s roof rails were also painted black for the package, as are the splash guards behind the wheels. The unique floor mats get Midnight Edition badging and a dark coloring.

Speaking of hue, the Midnight Package was originally only offered with black for the exterior body panels, but now it can be added to models painted in Pearl White Cayenne Red, Gun Metallic, and Magnetic Black.

Interestingly, Nissan says adding the package will actually save a few bucks when compared to optioning in all the extras piece by piece. The package is on sale now and retails for $1,195, while the Murano Platinum trim level (sans-Midnight Edition) starts at $39,610.

Continue reading to learn more about the Nissan Murano Midnight Edition.

What Makes The Nissan Murano Midnight Edition Special

In case you haven’t realized it yet, this whole dark special edition trend follows a pretty well established formula at this point. If you wanna sell even more units of a popular model, add darker exterior styling and charge a premium it, preferably towards the end of a model’s lifecycle.

That’s basically what Nissan is doing with the Murano. That said, it’s actually a decent looking lineup of visual upgrades. The dark trim and spoiler work well with the repainted wheels, and it makes me wonder why Nissan didn’t just do it like that from the off. Then I remember the whole dark special edition angle, and it makes a little more sense.

Personally, I find the new floor mats to be pretty half-hearted. The material used doesn’t appear to be anything special (these are still for your feet, after all), and I can’t really find any justification for them beyond extra badging to let folks know you paid $1,200 for repainted wheels and splash guards.

I could also gripe about the lack of mechanical upgrades, but that’s a bit like beating a dead horse at this point.

As a reminder, the Murano Platinum trim level comes equipped with leather upholstery, LED headlights, heated and cooled front seats, a heated steering wheel, heated outboard rear seats, and a 7.0-inch infotainment display. Making it go is a 3.5-liter V-6 gas engine producing 260 horsepower at 6,000 rpm and 240 pound-feet of torque at 4,400 rpm. Routing it all is an Xtronic continuously variable transmission, which feeds a FWD drivetrain as standard, with AWD offered as an available option.