Nissan Leaf reinvented as fastback SUV - and we've driven it

There’s also a revamped ‘three-in-one’ electric motor and a separate heat pump to optimise the efficiency of the heating system. It sits on 18in or 19in tyres, depending on spec.

Two battery options will be offered, with usable capacities of 52kWh and 75kWh, giving the car an official range of 271 or 375 miles. But Nissan emphasises its efficiency at motorway speed, claiming it can cover more than 200 miles at an 80mph cruise.

Unlike previous Leafs, the new car will be equipped in the UK with a CCS charging system, rather than a Chademo one, which can take DC rapid-charging rates of up to 150kW.

The interior has also been completely reinvented, with the dashboard built around a pair of 14.3in screens running a Google-based infotainment system.

Despite the Leaf’s new fastback bodystyle, Nissan claims it has plenty of rear head room, while the boot capacity is put at 437 litres.

The Leaf will be offered with a range of semiautonomous driving technology and a 3.7kW vehicle-to-load outlet.

It will be built and sold globally, including at Sunderland. That plant has been heavily upgraded and expanded to house production of the Leaf along with the next-generation Juke and Qashqai crossovers, which are both set to sit on the same CMF-EV platform.

While the new Juke is expected in the coming years, the next-generation Qashqai has been delayed.

First drive: Nissan Leaf prototype

The new Nissan Leaf feels like a bit of a milestone moment: it’s the first mainstream mass-market EV to reach a third generation. Although that really depends on how you define such things: to all intents and purposes, the new Leaf is an entirely new model. The only thing it has in common with its pioneering predecessors is a name.

The original Leaf arrived in 2010 as a mid-sized five-door hatchback with a Chademo charging port, a 24kWh battery, a 124-mile range, a price tag of £23,350 after a government grant and a whole load of novelty about whether a car powered by batteries could actually find mainstream buyers.

The Mk2 Leaf followed in 2018, eventually featuring a 60kWh battery that gave it a range of up to 239 miles and priced from £21,990 (again, after a government grant).

Fifteen years after being launched and the Leaf is as unrecognisable compared with its predecessors as the concept of a government grant is to UK EV buyers. For this third generation it has grown substantially and is now firmly a crossover – albeit a very sleek one – rather than a hatchback. That shift in size helps make way for the new Renault-built Nissan Micra but is also designed to position the new Leaf as the primary car of a household.

The Leaf now sits on the same platform as the larger Ariya EV and has a strong family resemblance to that model: it’s determinedly less frumpy than the Leafs of old.

That’s in part because of the brief the development team was set, described by chief vehicle engineer Hiroki Isobe as: “Efficiency, efficiency, efficiency.”

Plenty of sleek aerodynamic elements help the new body to achieve that improved drag coefficient of 0.25 (the Mk2 Leaf’s was 0.28) and thereby maximise range, and there’s now a bespoke heat pump for the heating system.

With the biggest 75kWh (usable capacity) battery pack fitted, the Leaf has an official range of 375 miles. But the main focus has been on offering real-world range at speed, and indeed Nissan claims it can cover more than 200 miles at an 80mph cruise.

When you do reach your destination, it will charge at up to 150kW via – gasp! – a CCS plug. At which time, can we all please spare a moment to remember Chademo, forever to be remembered as the Betamax of EV charging?

Any judgement on that will have to wait, though, because so far our running in the Leaf has been far more limited. I sampled a prototype version under a long embargo at Nissan’s Grandrive test track in Yokohama, then last week editor Mark Tisshaw tackled the Hill Route at Millbrook Proving Ground in one. Both tracks gave hints at the new Leaf’s dynamic prowess but little more.

Mechanically, the Leaf has a new ‘three-in-one’ electric motor (meaning it combines the inverter, motor and reducer into a single package) that sends up to 214bhp and 261lb ft of torque to the front wheels. There’s MacPherson-strut suspension up front and a multi-link arrangement at the rear, while wheel sizes range from 18in to 19in.

Nissan says the Leaf has been set up for a comfortable ride in order to better fit its family car brief. And even on a short drive, what’s instantly apparent is the refinement: it’s really quiet and calm, with strong noise isolation.