#NissanAriya

We don’t often get to talk about recalls from different manufacturers in the same article, but here we are. Nissan recalled its new electric SUV over concerns that the steering wheel could fall off, while the NHTSA is investigating claims that the Tesla Model Y’s wheel could detach due to a missing bolt. Nissan’s recall is small, with just 1,063 vehicles, but if the investigation yields a recall, Tesla’s could include up to 120,000 Model Y SUVs. 

The Los Angeles Auto Show is upon us once again, and once again automakers hosted events the night before the media day. Some things don’t change, even if this time we had to wear masks indoors and fill out a form saying we didn’t have COVID, as far as we knew.

This is how I found myself standing in a rented mansion in the Hollywood Hills — one that had a stunning view of L.A. — clutching a plastic glass of wine and listening to actor Jay Ellis extol the virtues of the Nissan Ariya EV. All because reservations for the Ariya opened up officially on Tuesday night.

Don’t have a compact EV crossover in the works? Are you even an automaker?

Keeping up with the industry Joneses is a longstanding tradition among automakers, and Nissan, despite its troubles, isn’t throwing in the towel when it comes to cutting-edge competition. After revealing a concept CUV last year that promised gas-free driving and a healthy driving range, Nissan unveiled the production vehicle last night.

It doesn’t differ much from the concept.

I’m your man, Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida told shareholders at an annual meeting Monday, promising to take a pay cut while firming up the fiscal foundations of an automaker that was floundering even before the pandemic hit.

Nissan rolled out a very different kind of four-year plan in late May. Cost-cutting and consolidation is the name of the game going forward, but shareholders often want more assurance than a blueprint can provide.

Within a couple of years, Nissan hopes to put the company’s current dark clouds behind it and get on with the business of selling cars and making money. One vehicle expected to help the automaker in this supposedly EV-hungry decade is a production version of last year’s Ariya — a concept crossover powered solely by electricity.

Looking pretty fleshed-out for a concept, the Ariya, or whatever Nissan chooses to call it, will join the long-running Leaf in the company’s emissions-free stable. At this week’s Consumer Electronics Show, the automaker chose to show off the system that gets the Ariya moving. It’s an unholy marriage of letters and numbers.

Mazda wasn’t the only Japanese automaker to lift the sheet on an electric crossover at the Tokyo Motor Show today. Nissan got in on the game, revealing a crossover “concept” that looks ripe for the production line.

As opposed to past concepts like the IMk and IMx, this Nissan has a name — Ariya, which one assumes is pronounced “area.” The compact EV crossover also dispenses with the usual gee-whiz concept car trappings, looking very much like a vehicle bound for showrooms. Nissan leaves no doubt that the Ariya, or something almost identical to it, could soon become a reality.