Nissan is an electric car trailblazer. It was the first to bring a ‘proper’ EV to market with the Leaf ten years ago. The 100 (ish) mile range hatch was a truly impressive bit of kit – you didn’t lose much ‘car’ other than a combustion engine, meaning you could (with careful planning thanks to ropey infrastructure) use it as a sensible car for sensible things without issue.
The EV game has moved on somewhat since the Leaf. Tesla has become the byword for EV, infrastructure is becoming more reliable, and people like Audi, Mercedes, BMW, and Porsche have thrown some skin the in game. While Nissan’s Leaf has grown up (and stablemates Renault releasing an EV for everyone as well), one thing it has been missing is a family SUV. Y’know, something to take on Tesla’s Model 3 and Model Y, Audi’s e-tron, and all the rest. This, friends, is where the Ariya comes in.
Now, it comes with a billion powertrain combinations – you can have two or four-wheel-drive, a range up to 310 miles, and a 0-62mph time as low as 5.1 seconds. However, to get the magical 310 mile range you have to forgo the quick 0-62 time. If you plump for four driven wheels, electric motors front and rear will shuffle grunt where you need it to keep you on the straight and narrow. It comes with 50:50 weight distribution, which means that although it’s heavy it’ll likely handle well. Nissan’s fancy Pro Pilot autonomous driving system will come bundled in, so it can take over some (definitely not all – it is not an autonomous car) of the hard work as well. It’s all very clever, and very ‘future.’
All of that is secondary to the Ariya’s true purpose though. It’s a bridge car, much like Porsche’s Taycan. You’ll have no doubt noticed that the majority of the current crop of EVs look like normal cars. Ok, they have swoops where their ICE compatriots have sharp angles, but they all look like ‘a car.’ Seeing as EV architecture takes up less space, there’s theoretically more scope for designers to play. Wilder shapes are possible, different layouts, new ways of getting people from home to the office and back, but most are playing it safe for now. This is entirely understandable – if a car’s too wild you’ll put off an established customer base used to, well, what they’re used to. It would be the equivalent of the office nice guy, a chap always courteous and polite, turning up to work with ‘SOD OFF’ tattooed across his forehead and curling one out on the reception desk. The apple cart would be upset.
Yeah, there’s the odd nod to a manufacturer’s past masters (Fiat’s new 500, the billion VW ID concepts that look like dune buggies/Samba Busses, etc, etc, etc) but that’s simply pandering to the ‘they don’t make ‘em like they used to’ and ‘I always wanted one of them’ crowds – two groups who, notoriously, don’t buy new cars anyway.
Before designers can really go nuts with EV design we need bridge cars. Shapes that are still familiar, but push boundaries a little further than before. Porsche’s Taycan does it very well – it looks like a sedan, but shares little with its ICE sibling, the Panamera. Maybe a Panamera from 2030, but not today. It takes an established idea and moves it forward far enough for comfort. That’s exactly what the Ariya seems to be doing.
Take a look at Nissan’s SUV line up – the Qashqai, Juke, and X-Trail all look… normal. The Ariya takes details from their designs and pushes them further. Visiting a Nissan showroom in 2021, when the Ariya is set to appear, you’ll see aspects of what you know alongside it, but the EV will still be a touch out there. Soon enough, today’s bold design choices will be tomorrow’s regular, and the bolder stuff will show the true potential electrification can offer automotive design.
We’re in the future now, but the next future will look nothing like today. And we’ll be cool with it thanks to bridge cars like the Ariya.
Keyword: Nissan's Ariya Is The Bridge We All Need