Nissan Ariya EV still in limbo

Australian auto brands have been plagued by stock shortages in 2022, but few have been hit by supply-related new-vehicle launches as badly as Nissan and that trend looks set to continue throughout 2023.

After launching the new 2023 Nissan X-TRAIL and new 2023 Nissan Pathfinder in December, following several delays and a 38 per cent sales slump in the first 11 months of 2022, Nissan will finally also release the new 2023 QASHQAI in January.

But Nissan Australia is still unable to say when its highly-anticipated answer to the Tesla Model Y, the flagship Ariya mid-size electric SUV, will arrive here.

And the Nissan QASHQAI e-POWER plugless hybrid, which was originally expected to become the brand’s first e-POWER model in Australia in March 2022, is now also in limbo according to Nissan Australia managing director Adam Paterson.

“The challenge of that [QASHQAI e-POWER], and it’s the same thing with Ariya, is that the regulatory environment is moving so quickly, globally, from an emissions standpoint, that we are balancing the requirements of other markets and total plant [factory] output,” he told carsales.

“Two things affect that: the speed of which regulation moves in other markets and the speed at which we can ramp up production at the UK plant.

“So to give an exact date is one that I'd be estimating and I’d rather not publish something if there’s some chance that I’m not able to be accurate,” stated the Canadian-born Nissan Australia boss of the electrified vehicle’s Aussie arrival timing.

In other words, in some countries – chiefly in Europe – there will be penalties for selling conventional combustion-powered vehicles under tightening emissions regulations, so it makes more business sense to prioritise deliveries of electrified vehicle to those markets.

Meanwhile, the Australian government is yet to announce stricter emissions or fuel-efficiency standards following its high-profile EV strategy, so this market continues to receive lower-tech combustion cars here.

Following its battle with lack of stock and fresh models in 2022, Paterson says sales will rebound in 2023 thanks to the launch of four crucial new products, starting with the new Nissan Z earlier this year and now the trio of popular small, mid-size and large SUVs that are finally rolling into showrooms.

However, there’s still no sign of the battery-powered Nissan Ariya and potential Aussie customers could be kept waiting until late 2023 or early 2024 because of Australia’s relatively lax emissions regulations.

The Ariya is a direct rival for the Polestar 2 and Tesla Model Y, freer supplies of which are now coming from China, as well as the Hyundai IONIQ 5 and Kia EV6, sales of which remain strictly limited by supply.

The Kia EV6 was sold out for around three years after being launched in late 2021, with only small numbers trickling into the country as other markets tighten their emissions laws and car-makers remain disincentivised from bringing EVs to Australia en masse.

“We meet regulations in the markets that we do business in… but we’ll meet whatever regulation that has been put in place [in Australia],” said Paterson.

“And there are markets that require it [EVs such as Ariya] as a product to meet total fleet averages from a CO2 output standpoint. We don’t have that requirement in our market.

“We don't have the requirement in our market that a specific amount of our fleet needs to be electrified. But I think we have to be careful – and I'm not trying to suggest that we would ever slow that down – but I'm sure it’s a challenging vision for the government as they’re balancing a number of different things like cost of living and product availability.”

Nissan’s only EV, the LEAF, has been available in Australia for more than a decade but has failed to capture the imagination of Aussie customers, which makes the Ariya EV’s launch even more vital for the brand.

When it comes to its new-generation e-POWER plugless hybrids, with no firm local ETA for the electrified QASHQAI the focus is instead on the new X-TRAIL e-POWER, which will now be Nissan Australia’s first e-POWER model when it arrives here in early 2023, commanding a $4200 premium over regular X-TRAILs.

Nissan is also considering an e-POWER hybrid version of its next-generation Navara ute, which isn’t due to surface until at least 2024.

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