Photo: Newspressusa.com
The Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance is going through the best phase of its existence after the carmaking conglomerate finished last year's sales chart in the top position ahead of both the Volkswagen Group and Toyota.
The worst thing Carlos Ghosn, the CEO of Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi could do now is rest on his laurels and hope his company will continue to lead the way without any sort of intervention. However, if you know Ghosn then you also know he's not that type of a leader, so there's no risk whatsoever that it might happen.
The two main brands in the alliance, Renault and Nissan, have been at the forefront of electrification for quite a few years. The former has the ZOE model, which is Europe's best-selling EV - for what it's worth - as well as electric version of other vehicles in its portfolio - the Kangoo and the old Fluence sedan. None are particularly remarkable, but Renault has shown the kind of consistency missing from other manufacturers.
Nissan is best known in the EV department for the LEAF hatchback, which has had its second generation revealed earlier this year. The vehicle's specs were a bit of a letdown, but it is cheap and it will be instantly available, unlike some of its competitors (yes, Tesla Model 3, that would be you).
But the most important thing about the new LEAF is that it will serve as the platform for a set of other EVs coming from the Japanese carmaker in the following years. Rumors about a crossover started circulating even before the hatchback had had its debut, and they haven't simmered down since, but other than that, there was very little official information.
Thanks to Toshihiro Hirai, Nissan's corporate vice president for powertrain and EV engineering (talking to Automotive News), we now know the company's plans include six new battery-powered vehicles by 2022. The official announced Nissan would get four of the six, with Infiniti being the beneficiary of the remaining two.
Hirai did not go into any more extensive details, so the nature of Nissan's upcoming models is still left to speculation. Besides the crossover - which has been suggested by company officials and would also be the most logical progression - the other three could take any form. We expect one of them to be a sedan, and the second unknown might be a small city car - and while we'd love for the third to a sports car of sorts, it's probably way too early for Nissan to dream of anything like that.
Infiniti, on the other hand, is fresh of showing the Q Inspiration electric concept at the Detroit Motor Show, and while that doesn't mean anything in itself (the study was more a way of introducing a new design language), it does suggest the company is serious about its BEV ambitions. A luxury sedan would make sense for Infiniti, though, and the second model will undoubtedly be an SUV/crossover because... just look at the market.
The two main brands in the alliance, Renault and Nissan, have been at the forefront of electrification for quite a few years. The former has the ZOE model, which is Europe's best-selling EV - for what it's worth - as well as electric version of other vehicles in its portfolio - the Kangoo and the old Fluence sedan. None are particularly remarkable, but Renault has shown the kind of consistency missing from other manufacturers.
Nissan is best known in the EV department for the LEAF hatchback, which has had its second generation revealed earlier this year. The vehicle's specs were a bit of a letdown, but it is cheap and it will be instantly available, unlike some of its competitors (yes, Tesla Model 3, that would be you).
But the most important thing about the new LEAF is that it will serve as the platform for a set of other EVs coming from the Japanese carmaker in the following years. Rumors about a crossover started circulating even before the hatchback had had its debut, and they haven't simmered down since, but other than that, there was very little official information.
Thanks to Toshihiro Hirai, Nissan's corporate vice president for powertrain and EV engineering (talking to Automotive News), we now know the company's plans include six new battery-powered vehicles by 2022. The official announced Nissan would get four of the six, with Infiniti being the beneficiary of the remaining two.
Hirai did not go into any more extensive details, so the nature of Nissan's upcoming models is still left to speculation. Besides the crossover - which has been suggested by company officials and would also be the most logical progression - the other three could take any form. We expect one of them to be a sedan, and the second unknown might be a small city car - and while we'd love for the third to a sports car of sorts, it's probably way too early for Nissan to dream of anything like that.
Infiniti, on the other hand, is fresh of showing the Q Inspiration electric concept at the Detroit Motor Show, and while that doesn't mean anything in itself (the study was more a way of introducing a new design language), it does suggest the company is serious about its BEV ambitions. A luxury sedan would make sense for Infiniti, though, and the second model will undoubtedly be an SUV/crossover because... just look at the market.
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