Nissan’s Ariya Electric Crossover Debuts in All its Well-Designed Glory

Nissan have been teasing their Ariya project for quite some time. Since 2018, when the company was facing a bit of turbulence. Now, it seems like they are well past those strange times, and the production Ariya will be the car to carry them forward.

Shown in full earlier today, the Ariya crossover will be hitting the streets of Japan this time next year, and the rest of the world shortly after. Thanks to its thoughtful and refined design, it should become one of the most omnipresent cars of the next decade.

Nissan will make the Ariya available at four main spec levels. There are both two motor configurations, and two battery size options. You can get it in RWD or their new e-4orce AWD, with either a 65 kWh battery pack or a 90 kWh pack.

If you opt for the presumably cheapest option, which will cost around $40,000, than you will get a RWD model with 65 kWh battery. That motor will produce 160 kW of power at 300 Nm of torque, and get about 450 km of range. That’s 217 horsepower around 260 miles for those of us who live in the US.

On the high-end you’ll be receiving the very cool e-4orce AWD with 90 kWh pack. This version of the car has a pair of beefy motors, one on each axle, that get a combined 290 kw and 600 Nm of torque, as well as 580 km of range. In American, that’s over 300 miles of range, and an impressive 389 horsepower. Enough to go 0 – 62 mph in just 5.1 seconds.

Nissan have tailored the torque vectoring of e-4orce in a unique manner. Informed by their work on the GT-R, the engineers have made this AWD system drive not only faster in a straight line, but also make the ride noticeably more comfortable, agile, and safer in more conditions.

The flat floor has made the Ariya deceivingly spacious, allowing for more passenger room, and cargo space. Nissan have really re-hauled their design language inside, with horizontal screen, more premium materials, and Japanese Futurism inspired accents. It’s a really refined and respectable interior, with all the smart-connectivity you’d expect in a 2021 model car, and then some.

Speaking of tech, the Ariya will use Nissan’s next generation of Pro-pilot. That’s their driving assist feature, which will be upgraded to drive on highways in a more ‘hands-free’ manner. It’s up their with competitors like GM and Volvo, but not quite the Tesla system. With OTA updates, who knows how far they can take it. On release it should handle highway conditions, with lane-change, speed, distance, emergency stop, etc.

We’ve talked a lot about the interior since it’s been teased for so long, but let’s cover it one last time. The car’s elegant, not to showy, and has a sensible mix of curves and lines. The wheels are aero-sensible, and the headlights are contemporary updates. The bronze color they’ve shown off may be divisive, but generally this car will look good for most people in need of a family car.