The world is transitioning to electric vehicles and those brands who will make it through to the other side is very much to be determined.
It seems Nissan are ready to roll with a new all-electric crossover, known as the Ariya. Last year the company revealed the car in concept form, but has now released a trailer for an upcoming world premiere event, where we’ll see what the final production vehicle looks like.
In the board room and department meetings of each automaker right now, should be discussions about their ability to radically invest in accelerating their transition to making electric vehicles.
No automaker should be investing in new ICE product cycles in 2020, as the demand for an ICE vehicle at the end of a normal 5 years cycle is incredibly questionable. Also for anyone buying an ICE vehicle from this point, is also taking a massive gamble that their new vehicle purchase will be worthless and vehicle buyers add electric to the must-have column.
Here’s the concept video of the Ariya from October last year. With a fairly limited set of SUV’s to chose from in the EV space, another entrant is most certainly welcome and if the final design looks anything like this, I think Nissan are onto a winner.
In the concept, the Ariya is shown using vehicle-to-grid technology, which would allow the power from the battery to help power your home. This is already present and being testing with the Nissan Leaf, but it seems like this could be a common feature of Nissan’s electrification strategy.
This also points towards another CHAdeMO charging port, but we’ll have to wait for the unveil on July 15th (US time) for details on range, price and Australian availability.
When it comes to autonomy, which is a simulataneous transition the auto industry is experiencing, we know from Nissan’s concept that the Ariya should come with ProPilot 2.0.
This technology allows hands-off driving, thanks to driver monitoring, while on freeways. You still have to pay attention to the road and press a button to overtake slower cars ahead. There’s no help on city streets, but for those who regularly commute on highways, this is still a big leap forward.
Via Autoblog.