It’s comeback season for Nissan. After a period of being on the ropes, flirting with the idea of merging with Honda, the marque is still standing. Strong new models and cost-cutting measures mean living to fight another day, and now we’re about to see where the Japanese company is going next.
Earlier today, Nissan cryptically teased a livestream coming to YouTube tonight, April 13. While livestreams can sometimes be nothingburgers, this seems substantial for several reasons. For one, it’s called the “Nissan vision announcement.” That’s not your normal, routine investor relations call, and while the marketing copy in the press email was rather vague, the description of the video suggests we’re about to see some important stuff.
Join us live from our headquarters in Yokohama, Japan as we share our vision forward and preview exciting products and technologies on the horizon.
Jackpot? Perhaps. These sorts of grand announcements are usually worth watching because they reveal a lot. Maybe not always specific production-spec cars, but at least a road map for cars we’ll see in the future. Given what we’ve heard, there’s reason for excitement. After all, Nissan’s expected to bring back the XTerra, launch an Infiniti-branded stick-shift sport sedan, and maybe even revive the GT-R in the next few years. That’s all tasty stuff, and it barely touches on the meat and potatoes of propelling the automaker forward.
While the Sentra, Leaf, Kicks, and Armada are all relatively new, there are a whole bunch of core models inching towards replacement. For instance, a new Rogue is coming soon, which isn’t surprising considering the current model’s now in its fifth model year. Then there are the hybrids. We know Nissan’s ePower series hybrid system is finally making its way to North America later this year in the new Rogue, but there’s plenty of opportunity to expand it beyond that.
The big announcement kicks off at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time, which translates to 8:00 p.m. Central Time, 7:00 p.m. Mountain Time, and 6:00 p.m. Pacific Time. A little bit late for a normal blog but just the right sort of time for a watch party.
Thankfully, we have a Discord server full of excellent people that should make watching Nissan’s big announcement together a cinch. Here’s the plan: About ten minutes before the 9:00 p.m. ET kickoff tonight, I’ll log onto Discord, open up a voice channel, and start sharing the Nissan stream. You just simply have to click this link to join our server, or if you’re already aboard, simply join chat. Of course, we don’t have the technology to cast light refreshments across the internet, so you’ll need to bring your own snacks.
Whatever happens, I’d love to see you join in on our reaction to all of this, and you best believe we’ll also be writing the news as it rolls out. This could be a very fun Monday night indeed.
Top graphic image: Nissan
I swear to christ on the crooked cracker cross, if they annount XTerra with some bullshit technology or a CVT or a derivative crossover off some other FWD platform, i’m going to LOSE IT. Xterra MUST be a Frontier-based, basic, real SUV with a proven engine.
Nissan, let’s be brave and do something different that absolutely NOBODY is doing, and you never have. Make that stickshift Infiniti sports sedan as a *wagon* too.
A sporting wagon at a price mere well-off mortals can afford. Something completely unique in the market today. And actually ADVERTISE THE DAMNED THING! Hell – race it! It worked for Volvo back in the day. With no electron motivation it might even weigh less than a small moon. What a concept that would be!
wheres jatco when you need them? im sure they have the Continuously Verifiable Topics for the broadcast.
“As Nissan Announces Something Big”
Is it a new Micra? It’s a new Micra, right?
the new micra already exists, it’s a rebadged renault 5
I hope we get a first look at the upcoming Q50.
Even better if they make a Maxima twin with similar performance and an MT that falls in a more digestible price range.
EPower but no way to plug it in and charge is about as large a miss as I can imagine. It’s not an EREV, it’s an ice car with electric drive. Seems like crap to me.
It works like Honda’s system. I don’t believe there’s a direct connection between the ICE motor and the wheels as the ICE motor exists to provide power to the electric motor. It seems silly on paper but it works quite well in practice. Honda’s system delivers high 30s MPG in the CRV and into the 40s in the Accord and Civic…not to mention the hybrid versions of those cars are faster as well.
It can be a real have your cake and eat it too type of deal
Not against all electric drive and a range -extender. I just think it’s idiotic to provide everything BUT a way to plug-in and charge the battery. Give it 60-80 miles battery range and it’s a proper E-REV. Most of the bones are there, but it falls short. Way short.
That would add weight, bulk and cost though. And for some folks like me who pay through the nose for electricity or folks whose living situations disallow home charging such a feature could be more of a detriment than a benefit.
It makes sense to me to be able to only use the ICE as a generator as that allows much more efficient tuning over a narrower range.
Maybe but there are losses going from mechanical to electrical to mechanical again. That’s why the VOLT mechanically coupled to the wheels for highway driving. Small batteries can easily be recharged up to 60-80 miles of range with common 120v plugs so erevs and phevs are possibly more acceptable to folks with access to a single outlet.
The question then becomes whether the losses of conversion outweigh the loss involved with less than optimal combustion.
IIRC GM added direct drive into the Volt at the last minute so they may have been close to tipping that balance but took the more conservative approach. The decade between the Volt and ePower may have seen improved peak tuning and conversion efficiency shifts in those maths.
ePower pickup!
Let it be something with a low range transfer case!
Probably gonna be a new Datsun Cherry.
Come on return of the Pulsar NX (with some of the best taillights ever and quixotic enough to think the sportbak’s time is truly here)!!
A faithful (key word there, lol) return of the Pulsar NX would genuinely make me lose my mind. That would probably be the most shocking automotive announcement this… century?
The original *could* be configured as more a less a pickup and Nissan offering a Maverick competitor would be genius…
And…. it’s the new Rogue, lol.