Australia-bound 2026 Nissan Leaf revealed

The all-new 2026 Nissan Leaf SUV has been unwrapped and locked in for launch in Australia in 2026, as part of ambitious plans to launch five new Nissans from now until the end of next year.

Abandoning a hatchback body style for a more appealing SUV shape, the first pictures of the third-generation Nissan Leaf show how the pioneering EV will be much taller, wider and longer than the car it replaces.

Hidden door handles, smooth styling and a rakish rear profile, meanwhile, show how designers have attempted to offset the bigger proportions with a low-drag body designed to maximise range.

Riding on big 19-inch alloy wheels, North American versions will bag a large panoramic sunroof and come with a NACS charging port to allow owners to plug into Tesla’s Supercharger network for the first time. Cars bound for Australia are expected to come with a CCS port.

No further technical details were revealed, other than Nissan confirming that the next Leaf will ride on the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance’s CMF-EV architecture that already underpins the bigger Ariya SUV.

It’s expected the Leaf will share its bigger sibling’s 65kWh and 90kWh battery packs and will come with either a 160kW/300Nm front e-motor, or a 290kW/600Nm dual-motor powertrain that will provide for all-wheel drive.

From launch the Leaf is expected to offer a WLTP range of between 400 to 550km.

The new Nissan Leaf was unveiled beside the next-generation Micra EV that was developed alongside the Renault 5 E-Tech, although the small Nissan hatch has yet to be confirmed for Australia.

Instead, Nissan has reiterated an earlier announcement that the Ariya SUV will finally arrive in Australia in 2025, more than three years after sales began in Japan.

Nissan said it was also still on track to launch the Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series-rivalling Patrol in 2026, as well as a revised version of the one-tonne Nissan Navara replacement.

As well as the 2026 Nissan Leaf EV, the car-maker will also rollout an updated version of today’s Qashqai SUV with its all-new e-POWER hybrid tech in the same year.

For the third-gen e-POWER, Nissan says owners will benefit from a 15 per cent boost in efficiency at high speed, as well as lower emissions and enhanced refinement.

The new e-POWER hybrid will be centred around a new 1.5-litre combustion engine that supplies the electricity needed to drive the electric motors that spin the wheels.

The product onslaught comes in Australia following Nissan’s failed proposed merger with Honda.

Following a slump in sales in the US and China that also led to the sacking of its CEO, the Japanese car-maker has been given just 12 months to live by some analysts who fear the firm is on the verge of bankruptcy without a radical turnaround plan.

Critical in Australia will be the success of both the next-gen Y63 Patrol SUV and the heavily revised Nissan Navara, the latter of which is being readied alongside the next Mitsubishi Triton.

It’s not known if the Navara will carry over its twin-turbo-diesel 2.4-litre four-cylinder engine (150kW/470Nm) or if will get an all-new powertrain that could for the first time feature electrification.

While the US market will get an overhauled Pathfinder, there was no mention of it in the Australian plans.

Last year Nissan Australia sold 45,248 vehicles, making it Australia’s ninth-best-selling brand, but so far, in the first two months of 2025, sales were reportedly down an alarming 29.2 per cent.

In February, hoping to boost sales, the brand introduced an industry-leading 10-year/300,000km warranty, which was backdated to January 2021 for customers who had their vehicle serviced at a brand-approved dealer.

Join the conversation at our Facebook page
Or email us at editor@carsales.com.au