Let’s start with the exterior for a moment: Nissan provided us with a test car painted in ‘Aurora Green’, a pretty noble but very dark green. Larger battery than the competition but no greater range This, we can already reveal, will make all the difference when deciding whether the Ariya is a successful electric car or not. The wood look, copper accents and uniquely designed ambient lighting are intended to create a premium feel. Unlike Qashqai or X-Trail buyers, who are more concerned with the price-performance ratio – sometimes with a focus on style, sometimes with an eye on utility – pricing positioned the Ariya at the upper end of the mid-size SUV segment. But Ariya also targets a different clientele. Instead of a halfway affordable compact car like the Leaf, which could have rivalled the VW ID.3 or the MG4 Electric, the decision-makers in Japan opted for the SUV segment – an understandable choice within the global market environment. The hardware was under a design freeze and committed to development status. Instead of mid-2021 as planned, Nissan could not deliver the new vehicles until summer 2022 – two years after the Ariya debut.Īt the same time, the delay also meant two more years to develop further and perfect the software, theoretically. But the launch was prolonged as the Corona crisis disrupted supply chains worldwide.
It had not been a great start, to begin with: When presenting the new e-SUV in July 2020, the Nissan Ariya was to open a “new chapter” for the brand’s electric cars.
Yet, the new platform and concept do not deliver throughout, as our driving test shows. The long-announced Ariya was supposed to help Nissan catch up again and target the growing majority of EV adopters. The Nissan Leaf was once among the e-mobility pioneers but fell behind in recent times.
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