The Controversial Nissan Ariya Nismo Will Cost £56,620

We were a little bit excited earlier this year when Nissan announced that its Nismo performance brand was returning to Europe after a few years away. Then our excitement was tempered somewhat when we remembered that Nissan has pledged to only introduce electric cars to Europe from now on. That return is spearheaded by this: the £56,620 Nissan Ariya Nismo.

It's based on four-wheel drive Ariya e-4ORCE, with its 87kWh battery. However peak power from its two motors has been upped to a total of 429bhp. That’s enough for a fairly Nismo-ish sub-five-second 0-62mph, and a decent-for-an-EV top end of 124mph. 

The Nismo's stability control has been retuned, as has the motors’ distribution of power and torque to each wheel. Overall, the torque split is 60:40 in favour of the rear. Beefier brake pads have been added, as have more performance-biased tyres, which wrap 20-inch Enkei wheels.

There's also tweaked suspension, with revised stabilisers, spring rates and shock settings, and the steering has been retuned with a view to providing greater feedback.

Obviously, it wouldn’t be a Nismo without some red accents and pointy bits, and that’s just what the Ariya Nismo has. There’s a tweaked front bumper, a new rear diffuser and a more pronounced bootlid spoiler, as well as some Nismo-specific alloys.

On the inside, meanwhile, there are a pair of chunky bucket seats up front and lots of suede-ish stuff and more red accents throughout.

The initial run of UK cars will all be finished in the spec you see here. The colour, Stealth Grey, is a midly tenuous link to the R35 GT-R Nismo.

We're not prepared to write off the Ariya Nismo just yet. We know from the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N that it's perfectly possible to build a very good performance EV, and while the Ariya is around 200bhp down on the Hyundai, at £56,620, it's also around £8,000 less.

Other, more realistic rivals include the £57,950, 469bhp Polestar 2 Performance and circa £60,000, 460bhp Tesla Model 3 Performance. Can the expertise of one of the most respected names in Japanese performance help elevate it above those?