It wasn’t that long ago that Nissan was touting plans for an electric sports car based on its radical BladeGlider concept.
Those plans never came to fruition but the dream to launch an electric sports car never died at Nissan.
The automaker is currently working on a new modular platform capable of offering internal combustion as well as electric powertrains, and according to its design chief Shiro Nakamura the platform could be used for an electric sports car.
“We don’t want to limit our EVs just to the Leaf,” Nakamura told British publication Auto Express. “We’re the leading EV manufacturer, but I don’t think we can make it just off one EV, so we want to grow the portfolio.”
In addition to an electric sports car, Nakamura said an electric crossover was also a possibility.
It’s still early days, though. Nakamura is reported to have said that it would be perhaps five years before we see a car based on the new platform. By then, Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] will already be selling its Model 3 plus a crossover derivative. The Californian firm may even have its next-generation Roadster on the market by then.
Nissan certainly has some catching up to do. This week Tesla announced that global pre-orders for its Model 3 were at 325,000. Nissan’s Leaf since its launch five years ago has only managed a little over 200,000 sales worldwide.
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