Launch review: Nissan targets premium customers with Ariya EV

Nissan has launched its most premium model yet with a clear desire to capitalise on the surging interest in electric vehicles (EVs).

It hopes the generous levels of technology and comfort, practical range and elevated driving position of the Ariya crossover will be enough to draw some of the financially squeezed middle classes away from their combustion-engined Audis and BMWs.

Ariya is available in two grades – Advance and Evolve – with a choice of two batteries: a 63kWh capable of 250 miles on a full charge through its 160kW motor and a 87kWh which will deliver a maximum of 329 miles range through its 178kW motor.

All are two-wheel drive, but for those with specific needs, such as for towing, the larger battery can be specified with an all-wheel drive powertrain complete with snow driving mode and a 47kW increase in power that doubles Ariya’s towing capacity to 1.5 tonnes.

Nissan’s engineers have worked hard on the driver’s experience with Ariya.

Careful weight distribution ensures the car remains well balanced and secure on the road, even under hard acceleration, and the quiet and relaxing cabin allows for peaceful progress and easy conversations with passengers.

The spacious interior means Ariya is a car in which passengers can ride with utmost comfort, even in the rear.

The EV platform allowed Nissan’s designers to use the whole length of the cabin and create a flat, open floor.

Occupying the space between the driver and front passenger is a centre console which can be moved forward and back by electric motors, giving the driver the option to create an adaptable armrest or additional legroom.

Gimmickry aside, this console is also home to touch-sensitive ‘haptic’ buttons to activate ‘e-pedal’ mode and to change between driving modes, which, in practice, requires the driver to look down for them until they’ve become accustomed to the car and can put their finger on them straight away.

It’s likewise for similar haptic buttons in the centre of the dashboard for the climate control.

The appearance is premium; the experience will be frustrating, at least for the first few weeks.

Ariya features Nissan’s ‘safety shield 360’ including forward collision warning and intelligent emergency braking to compensate for the driver being momentarily distracted.

Plus Amazon’s Alexa has been integrated so drivers can also use that to change the car’s settings or communicate with their home Echo devices without removing their hands from the steering wheel.

The instrument binnacle consists of a ‘monolith’ of two 12.3-inch screens, and Nissan claims displaying multiple facets of information on one horizontal plane, in a wave-like shape, helps information to be quickly digested while minimising driver distraction.

In Evolve trim the Ariya is also equipped with a head-up display showing critical and practical information, such as navigation signals and speed limit changes.

Advance trim includes comforts such as heated front windscreen and mirrors, hands-free power tailgate, ambient lighting, heated electric front seats while its safety technology spans from a 360-degree around view monitor and auto park for stress-free parking to systems detecting traffic, pedestrians and cyclists plus Nissan’s ProPilot with Navi-link driver assistance suite for relaxed motorway and A-road cruising.

Evolve gains synthetic leather upholstery, ventilated front seats and heated rear seats, an electric panoramic sunroof, 10-speaker Bose audio system, that head-up display and power-sliding centre console, and an intelligent key which adjusts the seats, steering wheel and mirrors to memory settings.

With equipment aplenty, futuristic styling and zero emissions power, Ariya is bound to help attract new drivers to the Nissan family.

Q&A: Andrew Humberstone, managing director, Nissan Motor GB

The Leaf and E-NV200 made Nissan famous in the field of electric vehicles. What will Ariya do?

I’m in love with this car. Ariya is a new flagship for us; it puts us in a completely new position from a pricing and segment point of view so we’ll gain additional market share by definition. Our dealers love it. It moves us more into a premium space. With all of the products, if you look at the quality and the design it shows the brand as a whole. With Qashqai, Ariya, and likewise X-Trail in due course, there are really nice finishes, the ergonomics are great. What is important to me is the level of comfort and the experience within the capsule itself. I think more and more people are looking for that comfort and quality of features and technology. To me, the new definition of luxury is around the ease of access to technology. I often talk about how do we create time in the working environment. The more comfort you have the more peace of mind you have (to think). If you can create that ambiance in your vehicle, of a zone of relaxation, that’s really important – maybe even part of your therapy in the journey home.

What do you expect it to do for the dealer network and Nissan’s registrations?

There’s a degree of repositioning the brand. There’s revenue of course; it will be a profitable vehicle and the price positioning has been very well done. There will, of course, be some loyal customers that migrate up into Ariya but most of the business will be conquest so that’s a great opportunity for us to bring new people into the family of Nissan. At Farnborough at Fully Charged Live recently it was amazing that people in premium products were looking at us and saying ‘wow, I had no idea’. That’s really exciting, because we don’t need to do a lot of volume with Ariya. It’s about keeping the right positioning and respecting the channels we sell it into, to make sure we protect the residual value.

There is huge appetite out there for electric SUVs, so aren’t you being too modest in your ambitions?

We’ve adopted a policy to refocus on quality over quantity. We don’t want to be chasing market share and pushing into channels. We want this to be ‘pull’ as opposed to ‘push’. If the volume comes it will be fed, but respectfully to the product itself.