Five years after going on sale overseas, the Nissan Ariya will arrive in Australia to help the brand justify selling models like Patrol and Navara.
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Nissan’s next electric car, the Tesla Model Y-rivalling Ariya SUV, will arrive just in time to offset the brand’s New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) tally, and help sustain the high volumes of Patrol and Navara sales.
Speaking to media, Nissan Oceania Managing Director Andrew Humberstone said the Ariya has been strategically positioned to launch in the second half of the year to accrue NVES credits to offset the fines for certain models like the V8-powered Patrol off-roader.
“Obviously, we’ve got NVES you have to manage, and the challenge we have is that we have a very successful Patrol, we have a very successful Navara, and we just introduced an upgrade to the existing Patrol and we have a new Patrol coming in the not-too-distant future,” Humberstone said.
“We’ve got to manage that and offset that with not just hybrid technology – or what we refer to as reinvented hybrid technology in our e-Power – but also look at the fully electric and say ‘when is the right time to bring it in?’
“I chose the strategic timing for Ariya as much as I could in terms of saying ‘do we need to bring in that car yet?’, but there comes a point where absolutely you have to offset that from an NVES perspective.
“If you look at the curve of our Patrol sales, it’s going up and up over 8000, you’ve got the new one coming, so there’s a massive demand for that eight cylinder in the market, but it gets to a point where we say if you look at where NVES is, at what stage are we bound to introduce the electrification to offset that.”
NVES, which was introduced this year but will not start being enforced until July 1, tracks the carbon dioxide emissions of every new vehicle sold in Australia with fines – or credits – levied for going above or below the threshold.
As it stands, each V8-powered Patrol sold in the latter half of the year will incur a $11,600 fine, with emissions targets tightening every year.
However, each Ariya sold will award Nissan Australia approximately $15,900 credits to offset fines this year.
The Ariya won’t be the only electric car in Nissan Australia’s stable, with the third-generation Leaf – now an SUV – to launch next year to also help, while the brand’s e-Power hybrid system available on Qashqai and X-Trail will also help reduce emissions.
The last 18 months has also seen a flood of new EV options entering the Australian market, largely from new Chinese brands, and Humberstone said the timing needs to be right for Ariya to make an impact.
“When’s the right time to bring that car [Ariya] in?” Humberstone said.
“Is the market ready for it and at what price?
“You want to plan your business around success and when you can read the writing on the wall, you need to be strategic, so we were strategic.”
This Nissan Ariya was first revealed in production form in mid-2020, making its arrival in Australia five years after overseas markets.
However, it was previously understood that a hurdle to overcome for the Ariya was Australia’s unique design rules that stipulate top tether anchor points must be exposed in the rear seats, as Nissan’s EV middle rear seat does not have one.
This would mean the Ariya would be sold as a four-seater, like Honda’s HR-V, limiting its appeal to families.
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Tung Nguyen has been in the automotive journalism industry for over a decade, cutting his teeth at various publications before finding himself at Drive in 2024. With experience in news, feature, review, and advice writing, as well as video presentation skills, Tung is a do-it-all content creator. Tung’s love of cars first started as a child watching Transformers on Saturday mornings, as well as countless hours on PlayStation’s Gran Turismo, meaning his dream car is a Nissan GT-R, with a Liberty Walk widebody kit, of course.
