Photo: Nissan
You might remember Nissan introducing the second generation of its LEAF electric hatchback two days ago, and how reading the specs sheet was one of those occasions where you kept going hoping it would get better at one point.
And it kind of did toward the end, where we found out that the new LEAF has a starting price of $29,990 before incentives in the U.S., which undercuts the Tesla Model 3 by $5,000 and the Chevrolet Bolt by $7,500.
With 150 miles of range, the LEAF should satisfy the daily commute needs of most Americans, meaning it could very well serve as a second household vehicle, and even as the only one for those urbanites who take the train or a plane when they travel on longer distances anyway.
The best news about the new car, though, was its exterior design. It's not great - it looks just like you would expect from a modern Nissan hatchback - but it's definitely an improvement over the previous model.
It appears the Nissan designers listened to people's complaints about EVs's tendency to look weird and made the new LEAF as mundane as possible. Sales will tell whether that was the correct call or not, but what it does mean is that it makes a Nismo version much easier to create.
According to Nissan design chief Alfonso Albaisa, that's kind of what's about to happen. He told British publication Autocar that the company is preparing a Nismo aesthetic kit for the new EV hoping it would attract the younger part of the market. He also said making the bits and pieces that go onto the car's body is a breeze now, probably breathing a sigh of relief nobody asked him to do that on the old one.
A more powerful LEAF called E-Plus is said to come in 2019, which would make splashing out on the Nismo kit less awkward for the owner since the vehicle would also have the oomph to match the looks (to some degree). Nissan hasn't released the performance figures for the new model, but an independent test estimated the 0-60 mph sprint takes somewhere around eight seconds, which is barely lukewarm. Is Nissan willing to dilute its Nismo badge? Apparently so.
With 150 miles of range, the LEAF should satisfy the daily commute needs of most Americans, meaning it could very well serve as a second household vehicle, and even as the only one for those urbanites who take the train or a plane when they travel on longer distances anyway.
The best news about the new car, though, was its exterior design. It's not great - it looks just like you would expect from a modern Nissan hatchback - but it's definitely an improvement over the previous model.
It appears the Nissan designers listened to people's complaints about EVs's tendency to look weird and made the new LEAF as mundane as possible. Sales will tell whether that was the correct call or not, but what it does mean is that it makes a Nismo version much easier to create.
According to Nissan design chief Alfonso Albaisa, that's kind of what's about to happen. He told British publication Autocar that the company is preparing a Nismo aesthetic kit for the new EV hoping it would attract the younger part of the market. He also said making the bits and pieces that go onto the car's body is a breeze now, probably breathing a sigh of relief nobody asked him to do that on the old one.
A more powerful LEAF called E-Plus is said to come in 2019, which would make splashing out on the Nismo kit less awkward for the owner since the vehicle would also have the oomph to match the looks (to some degree). Nissan hasn't released the performance figures for the new model, but an independent test estimated the 0-60 mph sprint takes somewhere around eight seconds, which is barely lukewarm. Is Nissan willing to dilute its Nismo badge? Apparently so.
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