Nissan thinking of fourth electric vehicle model

Despite three months of downward-trending Leaf sales, Nissan is still bullish on rolling out more electric vehicles. We know that Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn has said he wants to bring at least three and more likely four Nissan EVs to market in the U.S. in the next few years. Automotive News has an article about what these four vehicles may be. Actually, the question is about what the fourth one will be, since we already know that the Leaf will be joined by an Infiniti luxury electric vehicle and a utility van.

Automotive News has narrowed down the logical choices to a small city car that could evolve out of Nissan's partnership with Smart, a sports car like something the Esflow promised or a crossover like the Townpod. Less likely possibilities include something like the Pivo (and look at Renault's Twizy for proof that the Alliance isn't afraid to offer something truly outside the box). Since there are many markets and many possible EVs, Nissan may be saving the real outlandish vehicles for after the fourth EV. Andy Palmer, Nissan's executive vice president for vehicle planning and program management, told AN:

After the fourth car, we can begin to think about some advantages that electric vehicles give you in terms of architecture. Some of the wilder concepts you see, like the Pivo 3 and the sports car, would allow us to make changes in car architecture. We think that, after that fourth car, it will be time to start pushing the envelope again to continue our leadership.

Source: Autoblog Green