This $15,000 Nissan Kei Automotive Is Japan’s Finest-Promoting EV

• The Nissan Sakura is an all-electric Kei automobile.
• It is simply 11 toes lengthy and weighs underneath 2,400 lbs, with a beginning value of round $15,000.
• The Sakura has change into Japan’s best-selling EV, however Nissan is not promoting it wherever else… but.

There is a motive People appear more and more fascinated with Japanese Kei autos: It is superb to see small vehicles successful. The previous 20 years have seen People utterly scorn something small, low cost and easy, transferring in direction of ever-bigger, ever-more “premium” choices. That is why our three best-selling EVs are all made by Tesla, a premium model that claims to be an AI firm first. One in every of them begins at $80,000. In Japan, issues are totally different. The perfect-selling EV is a $15,000 metropolis automobile from Nissan.

The Nissan Sakura is a “Kei” car, a Japanese designation for autos that meet strict measurement, energy and engine displacement guidelines. Which means its energy is capped—like all Kei autos—at 63 hp, and size is capped at 11 toes, 2 inches. So the Sakura is about 11 toes lengthy, 4.8 toes large and 5.4 toes tall. 

It weighs slightly below 2,400 lbs, with a 20.0-kWh battery that enables it to go 111 miles on a cost. Notice that is a WLTP determine, which tends to be much more beneficiant than the EPA cycle used within the U.S. It could actually cost from 10-80% in about 20 minutes, although, so you possibly can replenish vary rapidly. There’s even vehicle-to-load performance for powering exterior electronics. 

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The Sakura can be tremendous nimble and tremendous low cost. Its turning circle is simply 15 toes, and costs begin round $15,000 at present alternate charges, with well-optioned examples near $20,000. You will get it in 15 totally different coloration schemes, with two-tone choices that add some spunk. It seems to be cheerful and enjoyable, and Japanese patrons do not appear to look down on small vehicles the best way People do. 

That is made the Sakura a successful proposition. Our reviewer favored it when he drove it again in 2023, and a new video from AutoTrader U.Okay. appears to agree. Host Rory Reid—previously of High Gear fame—calls it “pleasant.” No marvel Nissan offered 37,140 of them in Japan final yr, per Wards Auto, accounting for practically half of all EV gross sales within the nation. The corporate needed to cease taking orders at one level as a result of demand was so robust.  

Reid argues that the Sakura might win some hearts and minds within the U.Okay. or Europe, however that dialog is solely theoretical. Nissan solely sells the Sakura in Japan, and has no plans to increase it for now. It is no shock that it will not come to the U.S. Tiny, 63-hp Kei vehicles usually are not nice for America’s highway-heavy infrastructure, and vehicles with underneath 100 miles of EPA vary have sometimes faired poorly right here. Plus, even town vehicles higher suited to American highways—together with the Honda Match, Mitsubishi Mirage and Ford Fiesta—have all been killed off right here.

We do not deserve the Sakura. However Europe does. Reid is true that there is a actual alternative for Nissan to win over some patrons there. It is unlikely to be the type of smashing success it’s in Japan, however Europe has a notable urge for food for metropolis vehicles, and Nissan has a notable dearth of thrilling merchandise. It is lastly bought a winner in its hand, now it simply must double down.

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