Nissan Leaf will adopt utility styling to help boost slowing demand

SUNDERLAND, England — Nissan will tap into European tastes for crossovers with the next-generation Leaf in a styling shift it hopes will significantly boost demand.

The Leaf compact EV is the first of three high-riding, battery-electric cars that Nissan will build for European markets at its factory in Sunderland, England. It will be followed by an electric replacement for the Juke small EV, expected in 2025, and the next Qashqai, which is likely due around 2027.

The next Leaf will launch at the end of next year, a source at Nissan told Automotive News Europe. Nissan has not revealed an official launch date.

Nissan will invest 423 million pounds ($545 million) to upgrade the plant to build up to 100,000 Leafs annually.

European sales of the Leaf fell 31 percent to 11,568 through October, according to market researchers Dataforce.

U.S. production of the Leaf will end mid-decade. U.S. sales of the Leaf dropped 35 percent to 5,804 in the first three quarters.

Launched in 2010, the Leaf — now in its second generation — was a trailblazing full-electric vehicle but new entrants, especially from China, mean that Europe's EV market is more crowded and competitive.

Sales of the China-built MG4 battery-electric car, for example, tallied 52,520 in Europe in the first 10 months.

Sleeker styling

Nissan will avoid the third-generation Leaf crossover competing directly with the Juke or Qashqai by giving it lower, sleeker styling.

The design would be closer to the Ariya electric crossover, which has a much more aerodynamic styling than the company’s angular X-Trail that competes in the same midsize utility segment as the Ariya, according to a Nissan source.

Nissan has previously said that the styling of the next Leaf was previewed with the Chill-Out concept, which was described at the time as “a mobile haven.”

The concept has a smooth, uncluttered styling with a coupe-inspired curve at the roofline and eye-catching digital panels front and rear containing the lights. It is equipped with Nissan’s e-4ORCE all-wheel-drive system.

The Leaf's design aims to avoid the ungainly proportions of the first two generations, which used a platform adapted from combustion-engine cars.

It will be built on the same electric-optimized CMF-EV platform as the Ariya and the Renault Megane E-Tech compact car, Nissan said.

Batteries will come from a new cell plant currently under construction by Nissan battery partner AESC, owned by China’s Envision, alongside the Sunderland car factory.

The Gen5 (fifth generation) battery will be 30 percent more energy dense than the 62-kilowatt hour pack in the current Leaf, AESC has said. That will allow Nissan to increase the 239-mile range of the current model and better compete against models such as the Volkswagen ID3, which travels up to 343 miles on a full charge of its 77-kWh battery.

The battery cells for the current Leaf are produced in the current AESC plant next to the vehicle assembly hall in Sunderland.

When the Leaf was launched in 2010, Nissan was not even covering material costs due to the high prices of the battery, former Nissan executive Andy Palmer told the Automotive News Europe Congress last year.

“When we first started, we were paying $1,000 per kilowatt hour," he said. "Now it’s more like $150.”