Nissan is in dire straits right now. The Japanese car giant is haemorrhaging money, and its proposed merger with Honda, which was meant to save Nissan’s bacon, has been called off because of the looming Trump tariffs.
Although Nissan is part of the same group as a newly revived Renault, its balance sheets are gushing red, and the company has even considered selling and leasing back its corporate HQ in an effort to shore up cash flow.
What Nissan really needs, though, is for the world’s car buyers to start taking it seriously again. While the Qashqai has long been, and remains, a big-selling car, the fact is that Nissan left many of its models to age for too long before replacement, particularly in the crucial US market.
With gathering hordes of competitors, especially from China, Nissan needs a hit both to bring in some money and convince investors that it remains a viable entity.
Will the new Leaf electric car be that hit? Maybe…
The outgoing Leaf certainly was. The original Leaf was the first mass-market electric car to be launched, way back in 2010, and was good enough to take home the European and World Car of the Year trophies.
Its successor came along in 2018, with slightly longer ranges (up to 385km if you went for the big-battery version) and a slightly more conventional take on styling.
However, as with many of its models, Nissan left the Leaf to its own devices for too long and its tech, battery and driver appeal was swiftly overtaken by newer competitors. As it left production earlier this year, the last Leaf was actually still selling quite well, but that was largely down to massive discounts that chopped the price tag down to well under €30,000.
Even so, the old Leaf was a hit, with 700,000 sales around the world, 290,000 of those being in Europe. Nissan Leafs have collectively covered more than 28 billion kilometres in the 15 years since it was introduced, so Nissan has a better and bigger catalogue of electric drivers’ habits and realities than most.
That expertise will need to have been poured into this, the new third-generation Leaf, which switches from being an upright hatchback to a much sleeker crossover. It seems daft to suggest that a crossover can be sleeker than a hatch, but the new Leaf manages that.
It’s 10mm taller than the old Leaf, but the roofline sweeps elegantly down to a kicked-up boot lit with a Kamm-tail for better aerodynamics. The front end is a little more bland, perhaps (with touches of Ford’s Explorer), but overall it’s a very smooth-looking car, in stark contrast to the rather conventional-looking Mk2 Leaf.
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The styling is the work of Giovanny Arroba, Nissan’s vice president in charge of design in Europe, although he’s actually a native of San Diego and has lived and worked in Japan for more than seven years.
“We worked very hard to make everything super-flush, from the flush-fit door handles to the alloy wheels, to the 45-degree angle of the rear roof. Even the rubber mouldings around the doors and windows have been hidden.”
That sleekness has paid off. With its largest 75kWh battery, the new Leaf has a claimed range of 604km – more than a 50 per cent improvement on the longest-range version of the previous model. Even the small battery option, with a 52kWh capacity, has a useful range of 436km. The larger battery also charges very quickly, at 150kW of power on a DC fast charger, and Nissan claims that it can add as much as 417km of extra range in only 30 minutes.
It’s not just about being sleek, though. Interestingly, Arroba says that – in a manner of speaking – the new Leaf’s design process began back in the 1990s: “From the very beginning of this project, we were conscious about this 30-year design trend cycle. I don’t know if you’ve heard of this 30-year cycle.
“Basically, our base, our target customers, grew up in the 1990s. I grew up in the 1990s, so I’m very much reflective of the cars and the trends and the pop culture of that era. And there’s some relevancy now again, because even back then, the principle was the same – how to get a really aerodynamic drag coefficient, to get the most range out of the powertrain at the time. So cars were very flush, very sleek, very seamless and very iconic. I mean, the 300ZX sports car had these really cool graphics, very linear with a radius racetrack edge and simple 2D graphics that made the very simple form look very powerful.”
Arroba also didn’t want to follow the herd with design, and so while the front of the new Leaf features a full-width LED light bar, a light-up Nissan logo and semi-hidden LED headlights – in common with many other carmakers – the rear the Leaf is far more distinctive and lacks something that almost every other carmaker is currently including: “EVs today, every one you see on the road, has very horizontal light blade across the back. But we wanted to do something new. So, how do we make something fresh and more impactful than just putting another horizontal light blade across the back? So then we came up with this two-three graphic, and we thought it was quite a cool and symbolic way to celebrate the brand.”
The numbers two and three, in Japanese, are pronounced as “Ni” and “San” – it’s why Nissan’s motorsport cars have often run with the number 23 on the side, for luck.
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The Japanese pictograms for two and three also form a neat combination of two upright parallel lines and three horizontal parallel lines. Arroba and his team incorporated a neat little version of this all over the Leaf, sometimes tucked away in discreet places, and sometimes – as in the gorgeous 3D-effect brake lights – placing the Ni-San motif as a defining characteristic.
Under the skin – which definitely looks more handsome and distinctive as you work from front to back – the Leaf uses the same CMF-EV platform as the bigger Ariya SUV, and the Renault Megane and Scenic. It’s a front-wheel-drive car (Nissan is currently tight-lipped on the potential prospect of a four-wheel-drive version) with a 176hp motor for the basic 52kWh version, and 217hp motor for the 75kWh model. It’s the bigger battery version that will arrive first when the Leaf goes officially on sale next March (although we may have to wait for it a while longer in Ireland). It’s a little slower to get to 100km/h than the old Leaf, needing 7.4 seconds in the fastest version. Blame the chunky 1,900kg weight of the 75kWh model.
Inside, the new Leaf’s cabin represents a massive step forward compared with the dreary-looking interior of the previous version. Higher-spec versions come with two-tone blue and cream leather seats and trim, which looks very inviting, and the dashboard design – minimalist but still with some crucial physical controls for major functions – has clearly been inspired by the Ariya.
The Leaf gets a pair of big 14.3-inch screens for instrumentation and infotainment, with software based on the Google Automotive operating system. That means apps such as Google Maps, Google Assistant, and Google Play Store are all native, and you can download other apps — including YouTube, Spotify, Audible, and even games such as Angry Birds — to keep you entertained on those charging stops.
Overall, cabin quality seems excellent, and there’s plenty of handy storage space up front. Space in the back has been improved compared with the old Leaf, despite this new one actually being 140mm shorter overall. It’s adequate rather than generous, and that goes for the boot, which holds up to 437 litres of luggage.
There’s a handy adjustable boot floor, and you can slot both your charging cable and the rigid luggage cover under the floor when you want to fold the back seats down for extra storage.
There’s other tech too, including an updated ProPilot adaptive cruise control and lane-keeping system, which automatically slows down for corners, and an eight-point surround camera system that includes an “invisible bonnet” function for tight manoeuvres.
Even the glass roof plays a crucial part in the Leaf’s efficiency. It features electronic dimming, so you simply press a button and the glass goes opaque, “opening” and “closing” in sections, with a nice little Leaf logo that shines down on to the seats below. Because the glass is also heavily absorbing, it needs no sunshade, and that has allowed Nissan to increase rear headroom by 30mm while simultaneously lowering the rear roofline by 12mm compared with where it would sit if it had a sunshade.
Nissan may not, quite, be betting the family farm on the new Leaf’s success, but it’s not far off. When asked if it’s a smart plan to bet big on a new electric model, given apparent EV reluctance among consumers, Nissan’s official response is that: “Even if we have seen a slowdown, the European car market is continuing to electrify. EV volumes went from 1 per cent in 2018 to 13.6 per cent in 2024.” Equally, the Leaf’s combo of long range and fast charging is meant to make it: “A compelling alternative to a combustion-engined car.”
Pricing is some ways away from being announced, but you’d have to assume that the Leaf will be competitive with similarly-sized and ranged rivals, such as the Skoda Elroq and the Kia EV3.
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“It will be pricier, almost certainly, than the outgoing model, which may be tricky when trying to convince previous buyers to sign on, but there is always the option of the incoming all-electric Micra for those reluctant to spend big on a trade-in. Equally, Nissan’s plan is not merely to chase previous Leaf owners, but to try and tempt a broader swathe of buyers out of their petrol and diesel cars.
Will it work? Will the third coming of the Leaf save Nissan and trigger the corporate turnaround of the decade? Who knows, but the car certainly seems tantalisingly talented, at least from this static appraisal. We’ll start to find out in the spring of 2026.
