A Next-Generation Leaf? A Look at the Nissan Chill-Out Concept
Alex Reale
· 3 min read
Nissan recently announced an initiative called Nissan Ambition 2030, under which they plan to release 15 new battery-electric vehicles by 2030.
To give the public a sense of what they’re working toward, they’ve released a few concept models. One of these is the Chill-Out concept, a potential successor to the Nissan Leaf.
History of the Nissan Leaf
When people think of electric vehicles (EVs), it’s typically Tesla that comes to mind first. But when the Nissan Leaf was introduced, way back in 2010, it was on the vanguard of the EV industry. This goofy little hatchback packed in some pretty impressive new technology to help a driver go 100 miles on a single charge, which was quite good for the time. Plus, it wasn’t that pricey, at $25,000.
Other companies were working on hybrid cars or figuring out how to deal with plug-in technology during this time. Nissan jumped out ahead and presented a mass-market car that ran on a battery, and people flocked to it. According to
Car and Driver
, by January 2018, the Leaf was the “best-selling full-use electric in history with total sales surpassing 300,000 units.” Nissan wound up with a legend.Let Jerry find your price in only 45 seconds
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Nissan Chill-Out Concept design
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The Leaf saw some great success during the 2010s, but one of the models presented in Nissan Ambition 2030 seems poised to supplant it. The Nissan Chill-Out is a futuristic-looking crossover vehicle. It features smooth, sloping curves and a sleek two-tone color. If you took Tesla’s Cybertruck and ironed out all the angles you might get the Chill-Out. It’s beautiful and strange.
The Chill-Out will indeed be electric, employing the CMF-EV system that the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance uses, according to
Autoweek
. It will also, like many crossovers in its current peer group, be all-wheel drive. There aren’t any clear specs for the time being, but we can certainly expect something powerful and interesting from Nissan in the coming years. From hatchback to crossover
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But why would the Chill-Out, a crossover coupe, take the place of the Leaf, a run-of-the-mill hatchback? Autoweek said that this reflects the changing interests of the public. More and more customers are looking away from the hatchback shape and toward the body style that is typically featured in top-selling crossover vehicles like the Tesla Model X.
The production version of the Chill-Out concept would further Nissan’s reputation as a forward-thinker in electric vehicles, taking the capabilities of the Leaf and transferring them to a trendy new coupe.
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