Nismo celebrated its 40th anniversary last week. And it’s done so in a way we approve of: rubber-stamping its return to Europe by launching the Ariya Nismo, due on British shores in January 2025.
About time, too. Nismo had a healthy three-car line-up just a decade ago, but currently sells 80 percent of its produce in its Japanese homeland. The Ariya – a 429hp, dual-motor EV with select suspension, aero and electronic tweaks – will eventually be followed by other cars, though Nissan’s global product planning boss, Pierre Loing, won’t yet be drawn on what. Nor how they’ll tally with Nissan’s electrification strategy.
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“Nismo has no specific target to go electric only,” he confirms. “Most of our cars will be electrified in Europe. The Euro 7 regulations make it complicated not to be. It doesn’t mean they’ll all be fully electric. The growth of EVs is a bit chaotic; if you’d asked me about this three years ago, I’d have given a different answer. One of our roles as a manufacturer is to adjust.”
Unlike many of its rivals, Nissan doesn’t currently offer plug-in hybrid technology, instead settling for its range-extender e-Power solution. Japanese buyers currently lap up the Aura Nismo, a small hot hatch with a slightly feistier E-Power setup at its core. So can we expect something similar on European shores?
“E-Power has common parts with our electric cars for flexibility,” Pierre says, “and customers recognise that it operates like an EV. It is a big success in Europe. Over 50 percent of Qashqai and 80 percent of X-Trail sales are E-Power versions.”
Nismo modifications aren’t a one size fits all solution, and JDM models vary from light makeovers such as the Aura to thorough overhauls, most notably the carbon-rich GT-R Nismo.
“We play it car by car,” confirms Pierre. “With the GT-R, its price elasticity is very high. So we have space [to play with] and we use it. The Ariya is not a cheap vehicle so we can go up [in price], but it doesn’t make sense to go to a super high level.
“The Ariya Nismo will be less of a volume car than Juke Nismo was. We want it to be at the top of the line up. To represent our racing heritage and link to our programmes in Formula E and Japanese GT. Its aerodynamics have a purpose, not just design.”
Would he consider a more visually led ‘Nismo-Line’ on stock Nissans, a potentially lucrative avenue mined by Ford, Hyundai and AMG, among others?
“One day, maybe. But first we need to re-establish Nismo in Europe with vehicles that are aspirational and sell in decent quantities. Sometimes the finance guys want us to do it quickly, but first we need to set the scene.”
NOTE: This story first appeared on TopGear.com. Minor edits have been made.
