I don’t get it. Nissan already have the Ariya, which is nearly exactly the same size as the Qashqai. Is it going to be replaced so soon?
The replacement of the LEAF is of course long overdue. Lack of thermal management, obsolete CHAdeMO connector, and they don’t even make the 62 kWh version anymore. It was a great car, but it has outlived its usefulness.
And an electric juke is a no brainer. Why don’t they have one already? Overall, I don’t think this deserves the word “strategy”.
They do still make it but they may not sell it in your country.
An electric Juke would be fucking siiiiiiick.
I rented one in the UK for a few days and it was amazing for all the roads we had to hit outside Bath and through the countryside. An EV version of that would be hugely appealing to me.
It took me a few reads to understand that you were being serious. I don’t think I’ve ever seen any love for the Juke that wasn’t absolutely sarcastic. It’s really clear you’re not from the UK!
But honestly, given what you’ve said about mostly driving SUVs and sedans - definitely try other smaller cars! The Juke is rather bland compared to basically everything else.
I test drove one here in the US a few years back and loved loved loved it. Then again, I played a TON of Mario Kart 64 growing up…
Apparently I stepped on some UK land mine about liking the experience of driving a Juke lol.
Do people really dislike it that much over there? What’s the reason?
Calling it a strong dislike is probably overstating it, it’s just us being sarcastic arseholes mostly. I don’t actively dislike it, and I expect most people don’t either, I just think it’s incredibly meh and would never personally choose to drive one unless I had to.
So, general reasons:
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They’re generally regarded as ugly. But the people who buy them claim they’re quirky. I just think it looks bulbous and weird. Including the newer ones.
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The height and weight make it more inefficient.
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It looks like it should be able to handle off-road driving somewhat competently, even if nowhere near as good as a proper off-roader, but it can’t (there are some 4WD/AWD versions but the typical one isn’t).
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There’s not actually more space inside than a hatchback would have in the original (and massively more common) versions (pre-2018 I think?). Some people bought them assuming they’re roomier, but they just aren’t. To use an example, the original Juke had a boot capacity of 251 litres. And so did my Volkswagen Up, which is a city car and is very obviously a city car. It’s not the smallest car on the road, but it’s pretty small. I recognise you won’t know that car, so to put it into perspective, the dimensions of the Up were L 3.54m, W 1.64m, height 1.49m. The Juke (2011) is L 4.14m, W 1.77m, H 1.56m. Fold down the seats of the Juke and you get 1,189 litres, which is respectable, sure. But my smaller hatchback could have 951 litres with the seat folded down. It’s just not the boot space you’d expect from an “SUV”. Pretty sure the newer ones have fixed this, at least.
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They’re also just so incredibly common that I think we’re broadly sick of the sight of them! Them and the Qashqai. Plus, with how common they are, it’s pretty common for a dithering driver to be in one. Or an arsehole. They’re popular with mums to take their kids to school and middle-aged people who know nothing at all about cars so that doesn’t really help their broader reputation either.
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As far as I know, their reliability (at least the original models) is pretty shit too. Or so I’ve heard.
My wife owned a Juke for 7 years and 155,000 miles. AWD was good in the snow. She loved the “frog like” look. Only missing it because a red light runner crashed her. It took the hit well and my wife was physically ok. They don’t sell them anymore in the USA. She would buy the Juke EV in 2 seconds if it has AWD. So, there is some Juke love out there. Only complaint I have is that snow piles in the recessed headlights, so you have to clear the lights in a storm. Not ideal.
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I get that taste is subjective, but honestly I struggle to comprehend that people can find the Juke attractive.
It’s not even the exterior I love (although I don’t mind it), the car just felt great to drive on those smaller roads. It was a joy.
I’m sure I’d get the same king of feeling if I drove a Mini or something else with a smaller form, I’ve mostly driven SUV’s and the occasional sedan (including my Ioniq 6). It was just way more fun and satisfying to drive than I expected.
Who the fuck buys nissans?
Plenty of folks.
Only 3 to 4 million people each year buy Nissans
Their EVs are done well. I appreciate they’re the only Japanese company that is actually trying on EVs.
People with terrible credit scores.
We will see
Make a coupe with range. Any coupe! Any manufacturer!
Why a coupe? Model 3P does the same duty.
Nah, it’s just not the same, seating position, looks, less weight (not by much, but still), also possibly a thinner profile since you can recline the seats more and have a much slimmer profile than a sedan which would have a positive impact on drag which means you can go the same distance with a smaller battery. Also while you would possibly be limited to 2 seats, you could also have the added benefit of a much larger frunk.
Also, I wish tesla would just slap a coupe body on the model 3, it would be the perfect camaro/mustang alternative, the base trim is already comparable to both, and the weight is also somewhat comparable, and really my only gripes with the model 3 is the general shape and seating position, so a slimmer model 3 with the proportions of a mustang or camaro I would be first in line to place a reservation.
I see your want. Niche market, unfortunately.
And Samsung is making an iPad 💀
Nissan smart, Toyota stupid. More power to them.
Bz4x is better
If the factory is a battery factory, is it planned to be primarily LFP, or something else, or a generalist of all chemistries?
(Article is vague)
Nothing confirmed about that, based on the BBC article:
Probably going to have old tech in it. They need to catch up.
You realize they already have an EV that is fairly modern using CCS and will be transitioning to NACS in 2025. It also has many new tech in it like very good highway driving assistance (lane change assist etc), heatpump for efficient heating.
While its peak charge is 130kw, its charging curve is less steep so 30 minute charge amounts are comparable.
Please don’t use this term
It is by now a reasonably established term used even inside the industry - I sell equipment required for battery manufacture.
so you’re saying it’s too late. may god help us all.
In Giga we trust.
Please tell me they aren’t all SUVs…
Same. I’m getting sick of big EVs. I want to see more little ones.
They’re all little SUVs
So… they’re hatchbacks with awful visibility and unnecessarily high ground clearance?
That’s better than full-sized SUVs, but still too big for my taste. I love the leaf and the bolt for their truly small size.
Same here. I don’t want a SUV, big or little.
My g/f and I have different tastes – she wants Prius-sized or slightly bigger to carry around her bike in the trunk. I want something small (by American standards) – Yaris or Bolt sized. To me a Camry is too big. (My mom, too – she recently sold her Camry since it was too big for her and bought a Prius, which she loves.)
Really great to hear. So eager for EVs to pass the majority line of cars on the road. Once you drive one for a while you just can’t wait for others to try them.
Look! Look! We have a Gigafactory also!
To be fair, I don’t think Nissan had anything to do with Electrek’s description of their factory. They likely cringe just like we do.
Sporty 4door GT when?
nissan concepts look super ugly