This small SUV will be built in England
It will use the same platform as the Ariya
Launch is expected around 2025
The Nissan Leaf was the first electric vehicle produced by an established manufacturer when it arrived on the market in 2011 and its affordable price allowed it to remain fairly popular for a number of years, but Nissan has decided to replace it with an SUV.
Following the customer preference towards SUVs, Nissan confirmed the Leaf hatchback will not see a third generation, at least not in its current form.
Indeed, a compact electric crossover is being developed to replace the current Leaf, but its name hasn’t been revealed, so it is possible the Leaf name will live on.
This SUV will be built in Nissan’s British factory for the European market, and possibly for North America as well. It will use the automaker’s CMF-EV platform shared with Renault and Mitsubishi that will also be used by the larger Ariya crossover that is due to arrive early next year.
The SUV should be manufactured at the rate of 100,000 per year and its battery pack will be made with Envision AESC’s newest technology of battery cells that are going to be manufactured in a new Gigafactory.
This new product is planned to be released in 2025, but the company wants to have electrified its whole range by then, so we can expect to hear more from Nissan in the next few months about new vehicles and new powertrains. The other part of the company’s goal calls for 80% of its sales to be fully electric by 2030, and it looks like most, if not all of them will be SUVs.
