Following the debut of the standard LEAF a few weeks ago Nissan is now giving us our first glimpse of the hotted-up Nismo version. To be unveiled at the Tokyo Auto Show later this month, and go on sale a few months after that, the 2018 Nissan LEAF NISMO wants to bring a bit of excitement to the inherently boring job of driving an EV.
And it does that with a multi-pronged attack on boredom. It starts with a visual treatment that adds a little spice to the LEAF’s exterior with two-tone highlights and red accents. There is also a discreet aero kit on the Nissan LEAF NISMO which they maintain does not affect the car’s excellent drag co-efficient. That said, the Nismo may not be as efficient as its regular sister since it comes with a custom-tuned computer that delivers instant acceleration at all speeds.
That is another facet of the Nismo treatment that is supposed to make the LEAF more exciting. Combined with sport-tuned suspension and high-performance tires, the new software should put a spring in Nissan LEAF NISMO’s step and result in an improved driving experience compared to the standard version. They have tried to enhance this feeling by upgrading the interior with black trims and NISMO’s signature red accents.
Though these are the features of the Nissan LEAF NISMO concept, you can expect to see them all on the production version as well. The sporty EV also gets all the technologies of the non-NISMO version, including e-Pedal, which lets the driver start, accelerate, decelerate, stop and hold the car by using only the accelerator pedal, ProPILOT single-lane autonomous driving technology, and ProPILOT Park, the first technology in a Japanese-made vehicle to help drivers’ park by automatically controlling the accelerator, brakes, steering, shift changing and parking brake.