Nissan has officially confirmed that the third-generation LEAF production will begin at the English factory in Sunderland in 2026. This plant, which will mainly manufacture electric cars from 2028, is also responsible for assembling the Juke and Qashqai for the European market.
The Nissan LEAF is almost unanimously considered to be the first mass electric car on the planet (with permission from the smaller Mitsubishi i-MiEV). Launched in 2010 and updated in 2017, more than half a million units of the Japanese model have been sold so far, whose sales for some time now have been languishing due to the arrival of new rivals from brands such as Tesla or Volkswagen. .
The second generation LEAF it is actually a deep restyling of the originalsince its structure and propulsion technology (batteries without active cooling, CHAdeMO connector for fast charging, etc.) have not changed despite being more powerful and equipping larger capacity packs than its predecessor.
By 2026, the current LEAF will have been on the market for a whopping nine years. If we take into account that its technical base dates from 2010, we would leave at sixteen, a very high figure in an increasingly crowded panorama of alternatives.
The next Nissan LEAF will be based on the Chill-Out Concept prototype
It’s unclear if Nissan will discontinue the second-generation LEAF a year or two before its replacement arrives, or if the veteran will instead hatchback It will last until the release of its substitute. But one thing seems almost certain: Except for surprise, its sales will probably maintain a negative trend until its renewal.
The next LEAF will be a crossover compact sitting on the Alliance’s CMF-EV platform. This architecture, already present in the Nissan Ariya and Renault Megane E-TECH, is compatible with configurations of one and two engines; However, it is possible that the company does without this last option, reserved for larger and more efficient models.
Its aesthetics will be inspired by the lines of the prototype Chill Out Concept; therefore, it will be a coupé SUV with a profile fastback and very small overhangs. By concept, the most similar proposal that we can find on the market is the Citroën ë-C4, which has just received a new, more powerful 156 HP (115 kW) engine and a 51 kWh battery.
Source | Coach
