Having made her breakthrough in the dog-eat-dog world of Hollywood by co-starring in The Wolf of Wall Street, Margot Robbie is riding the waves as one of the most hip actresses of the decade. Her portrayal of Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad gained her even more recognition, so it comes as no surprise that the 26-year-old actress is highly desirable in terms of endorsement contracts.
Nissan managed to snatch Margot for such a deal, and her role with the Japanese automaker is that of “Ambassador of Electric Vehicles and Intelligent Mobility.” The pompous title also happens to have its perks. To the point, Margot got the opportunity to experience the 3.3-kilometer Monaco Street Circuit behind the wheel of Nissan’s BladeGlider from 2016.
“The what?” That concept thingy Nissan developed with the help of Williams Advanced Engineering, that is. The three-seat fully-functional concept packs two 130 kW electric motors in each of the rear wheels, translating into a maximum torque of 707 Nm (521 lb-ft), a top speed of 190 km/h (118 mph), and a 0 to 100 km/h (96 mph) stint of less than 5 seconds.
Described as “the electric vehicle for car-lovers” by Nissan head honcho Carlos Ghosn, the BladeGlider is not a work-in-progress sort of concept, but the Japanese automaker’s way of proving that electric cars can be exciting. It has slim chances of turning into a production-ready vehicle, though.
Nissan’s next big thing in the EV genre is the soon-to-debut second-generation Leaf. Spied in pre-production form only recently, the all-new Leaf is expected to feature a 60 kWh Li-Ion battery. Ghosn let it slip that Nissan is gunning for the magical 250-mile mark, though it remains to be seen if the engineers can pull such a trick off with the next-generation Leaf.
"It's a really exciting time for electric vehicles," declared the Australian actress about her role as Nissan electric vehicle ambassador. "More people are choosing to go electric, leading the way to a more sustainable future and the Nissan BladeGlider hints at the future of smarter performance cars."
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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