Nissan Teases New CMF-EV-Based Electric Crossover

It will be produced in the UK at up to 100,000 units a year.

Nissan new EV crossover teaser

Mark Kane

By: Mark Kane

Jul 1, 2021 at 11:20am ET

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As part of its 1 billion GBP investment ($1.4 billion) in the EV36Zero EV hub in Sunderland, UK, Nissan has announced a new all-electric crossover.

It will be based on the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance's CMF-EV all-electric platform and equipped with the Envision AESC's latest battery cells (that will be manufactured in a new battery gigafactory).

According to Nissan, this new EV model will be designed for global markets, however, at this point, we don't know whether the British plant will produce its for Europe or also for other global markets, as there might other manufacturing locations for this model (maybe even the U.S.):

"Other production locations have not yet been confirmed. More details about the new vehicle, including pricing and technology, will be released closer to the car's sales launch."

One thing that we know is that Nissan will invest 423 million GBP ($584 million) to produce this new electric car in Sunderland with an output of up to 100,000 units annually.

"As part of the £1 billion announcement, Nissan will invest up to £423 million to produce a new-generation all-electric vehicle in the UK. Building on Nissan’s expertise in crossovers and the worldwide success of the Nissan LEAF, it promises next-generation vehicle styling, efficiency and battery technology, making the switch to electric driving even more accessible.

Designed for global markets, UK production will be exported to the European markets traditionally served by Nissan’s Sunderland plant. The new crossover will be built on the Alliance CMF-EV platform, with a forecasted production capacity of up to 100,000 units to be installed."

Nissan new EV crossover teaser

There is no word about whether the existing Nissan LEAF production will continue in parallel or will end (more likely, in our opinion) once a new car is ready.

The Envision AESC battery plant is expected to have an initial output of 9 GWh annually (up to 35 GWh by 2030).

That would be clearly more than enough for 100,000 new crossovers, which means that depending on the market needs, Nissan will introduce a few more EV models in the future and maybe switch the plant entirely to EVs at some point. After all, 35 GWh is enough to produce 350,000 batteries, 100 kWh each (more if packs are smaller).

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Nissan's Sunderland plant currently produces the Nissan Qashqai, Juke and LEAF. There is also a small 1.7-1.9 GWh battery plant owned by Envision AESC at the site that supplies the LEAF and e-NV200.

The new electric crossover would be Nissan's second new electric car after the Nissan Ariya, based on the new CMF-EV platform. Unfortunately, the Ariya is noticeably delayed and expected in Japan in "this winter", while Europe, the U.S. and China probably will have to wait until 2022.