I think they should be small. But that doesn’t mean they should be for driving round urban areas. They should be small and used for long journeys in my opinion. And leave towns and cities for cycling and public transport.
@@Anothernerdyloser314do they? What are the use cases where you MUST have an ICE? Range? The Mercedes EQXX proves that EVs can go way beyond 1000km with one charge on a highway with highway speed. And if you have a small EV with a small range and no rapid charge but want to go a longer distance once or twice a year, why not rent a vehicle which can do that? You don't have to own it. It could be a bigger EV with a range extender or bigger more expensive battery.
@@phelanwolf6747 No sane working class person is going to buy 87 300€ Mercedes EQXX just to get work without having to charge it every other day. Can you recommend car that is under 10 000€ (price that can buy small single person apartment here) that has 200+km actual driving range on -25C weather. My work driving is anything from 20km to 200km daily no matter the weather so it needs to be able to handle that upper range without making me late during work just because I run out of range. I have been looking for EVs for a while but cheapest nation wide is Leaf with 400 000km driven with bit over 200km range according to cars insruments(not real range in bad weather) that is ~13000€. I also dont have home charging ability so it would need to charged at public charger.
Not sure all your audience know the Kei car rules - would have helped if you gave a summary - these car are Japan market only due to the regulations that define them.
It would be great if these were available in the UK (at an equivalent price to $16,000). Only thought is that some bigger wheels and more ground clearance to allow softer suspension might be a good idea to help deal with our rough roads. Could imagine a slightly larger version (like the wagon R+ vs the wagon R) might appeal in the UK market too.
ain't no general reason why a Kei car can't be sold in Europe (after all, the Mitsu iMiev was originally a Kei). Emissions aren't a thing for EVs (surprise, surprise) and crash protection is generally very good for any car sold in Japan. Modify it, and bring it on over, Nissan!
Looking forward to it being sold in the UK for about £25k in about 5 years time...lol Still too many buttons in the cabin for my liking... could still be simpler (and cheaper!) but much better than the usual SUV tanks!
Probably won't be able to sell it at that price in Europe. Part of the higher price in Europe for cars is the requirement for so much active and passive safety equipment.
They'd be selling as many as they can produce. Great family car. Great price. At that price you can buy two of them and it would still be cheaper than the SUV monstrosities other manufacturers sell. Maybe have an extended range version with a bit more battery and you cover a lot of the market. Now here's why that won't happen for a while: Nissan doesn't have the supply chains to pull that off.
Dacia are selling the Spring ev in the UK later this year which is a small compact SUV. I'd much prefer this boxy Nissan though. I've said it before that manufacturers should have a way for customers to buy and officially import one off cars from other markets, within reason of course. How cool would that be!
@@JillesvanGurp I fully agree. With a little more battery capacity, maybe 25 or 30 kWh, and priced at around €18,000 (£15,500) so that you can actually travel 200 km (125 mi), it would be THE ideal vehicle for any urban environment.
@@andrew-729 in what? I'm saying the UK and Europe for that matter need it much more. We have tiny roads and need these to replace the brutish SUVs clogging up roads
They should just get something like the Wuling Bingo, which is bigger and far more usable than the Sakura, with proper boot, and also only cost 10k USD versus the Sakura's 16k USD price tag.
Here in New Zealand a massive amount of our cars are secondhand Japanese imports, so I reckon I'll be seeing these around fairly soon, whether Nissan goes global with it or not.
Really hope they make it across to the UK! It looks great, it has plenty of range for the occasional trip outside of town. Much better than another SUV!
𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬. Many people in Japan change their cars much more frequently than people in Australia where I live. For countries where people drive on the left, like the UK, New Zealand, India and Australia, second hand Japanese cars can often be sold with little modification and at a price many people can afford.
I think so too, they're probably going to be as popular as the first generation Honda HR-V is in Singapore where most people instead have the Honda Vezel (the JDM version) with the ETC reader replaced with an LTA IU and with an aftermarket head unit (usually a Pioneer unit) installed by the used car dealer.
Well done, both the episode and the car. Hats off to Nissan. Love the styling, interior, and the dash. No huge screens, just what you need. Like squishy seats and cloth, so kudos on that. 😊
As a happy i-MiEV owner here in the US, my message to Nissan is to bring this car to America ASAP. Fit it with a NACS inlet and preserve the V2L capability. Done. If any of your marketing people disagree, fire them.
@@geirmyrvagnes8718 It was announced at one of those recent Tesla conference calls that all their cars would be bi-directional capable by 2025. This tells me that to connector has always been ready, but the electronics in Elon's current vehicle aren't.
@@benjaminnead8557 I have not heard about such an announcement, but this is not a Tesla product anyway. Tesla can at this point do things their own way and it will become the de facto standard. Nissan can not.
Yep. I wouldn't even be concerned about the undersupported Chademo plug (as I would predominantly be charging from a 10amp GPO at home). This Nissan Sakura is even better than my often imagined EV version of a Kia Picanto.
@@octarinehkin America at least, CAFE makes it easier to make an SUV compared to a smaller car. Restrictions are harsher for smaller cars compared to bigger cars, why bother making small cars at that point when you can make SUVs more easily?
@@octarinehk The current Yaris about the same size as my six year old Yaris Hybrid. Toyota has badged a small SUV thing as a Yaris Cross which is much more bloated than the standard Yaris. I bought my Yaris six years ago because at the time there were bugger all charging points in the country (and what there were, were Tesla). Now it's much better but I want a small car (Spanish parking spaces are small, and often hard to find in Spanish towns and cities) - ideally one that isn't going to break the bank and yet has a reasonable range. As a city car the Sakura would be perfect - but it only has a 110 mile range so not much use for longer trips (which is obviously not it's intended purpose).
Expanding on a couple of things not mentioned or only touched on lightly: 1.) It's technically not manufactured by Nissan but by NMKV (Nissan's joint venture with Mitsubishi for manufacturing Kei cars). Thus it's built on Mitsubishi's eK platform and has a sister EV in the eK X EV. 2.) The powertrain has its roots in the i-MiEV, but the battery back is an evolution of the Leaf pack. I had really hoped it would have the SCiB type pack from the M-grade i-MiEV as those still have high resale value here in Japan as 100,000km and 10 years later their packs are still showing 100%+ capacity, and outperform the Sakura's battery pack in charging speed. 3.) The quoted price is after government subsidies (not before). 4.) The V2L mentioned has been around here in Japan for about a decade now. Pretty much all EVs (except Teslas) sold here support it, including PHEVs and Hydrogen Fuel Cell cars. It's basically part of the CHAdeMO spec and pretty much all cars here use it (again, except Teslas). 5.) Oh yeah, it's "Sakura" not "SakUUUra" 🙂
Electric Kei-cars make a lot of sense, and Nissan has the know-how to do them right. Yet I don’t think they’ll sell them in other markets for probably the same reason they don’t sell regular Kei-cars in other markets.
@@crackedemerald4930 which would be perfectly fine in Europe as Dacia Spring has shown. Only US customer won't buy anything smaller than a t-rex just in case they would have to battle one.
US buyers are snapping up 25-year-old kei trucks in the US. A lot of buyers would desperately love to buy small pickup trucks, but the way the EPA wrote the fuel economy standards, it's easier and cheaper for US automakers to make their trucks enormous than to try to make small ones fuel efficient, so they just don't build any small trucks. Once a vehicle hits 25 years old, it's exempt from any sort of import restrictions, so that's why we're now seeing small trucks built before 1998 becoming such popular items here, a lot of times in the original right hand drive configuration. Ironically, the US automakers could build any number of small electric pickup trucks because they don't have to meet a fuel economy standard. But they won't.
Presumably kei cars would not meet the crash safety requirements for the EU market and the Sakura is too heavy and has too many seats to be an L7e class vehicle.
This would surely sell like hot cakes for urban use. Back seats good for the school runs; pop the back seats down for the shopping run; and great for commute rather than lugging a huge SUV around. 100+ mile range with 20kWh - good efficiency too.
Don't forget it's sliding back seats are outstanding from other Kei-cars or even mid-size. Rear seat legroom could be very spacious. In addition, Pro Pilot is available as an option.
This is the first Nissan that I have wanted to buy, ever! This is ideal for here in Thailand and with the local EV market starting to take off and with only Chinese cars available it is essential that Nissan launches this as soon as possible.
No mention of Mitsubishi being the first with the i-MiEV. No mention that this is a badge sharing deal with Mitsubishi and their eK X EV. No mention that Mitsubishi built this new EV on all the work that was done for the i-MiEV development, which is basically what the Sakura and the eK X are, the i-MiEV mark 2.
Great review but the G version you're trying is not $16,000, it's above ¥3,200,000 ~ $21,000 (at today's exchange rate) with the premium interior package you like so much.
I drive an old Opel Agila, a descendant of Suzuki Wagon R+, itself a descendant of kei cars. As soon as I saw this Nissan Sakura I thought "I want one, right now!" This is the first time such a thought happened to me about a new car. And if they make a similar process with it like what led to my car, meaning for other markets just stepping out of the kei car specs a bit (20cm wider, 30cm longer for example) leaving it otherwise just as basic tool of transportation it is now, I think they would have a sales hit.
I had exactly the same thought. I learnt to drive in a Vauxhall Agila, which my parents still have running now 23 years later. It'd be an ideal car for them to replace it and also to replace my Leaf in a couple of years.
what an adorable little car! and YES to cloth seats!! I hate leather (or fake leather seats) - too sticky in the summer, too clammy in the winter. Blech. Cloth seats all the way!
Goodness. The entire world ev market keeps asking for small and affordable. They keep teasing things like this, then dropping another 50k suv... The company that releases a small, affordable ev in the US will take over.
@@baronvonjo1929everybody in the USA loved my Honda beat. They just don’t trust it in our market thanks to the amount of incentives to buy 6000+ lb suvs
As a cyclist, I adore kei cars. Slow moving, and plenty of space when they are passing. So I agree the world would be a better place if there were more kei cars on the road!
Have they skimped on battery cooling like they did with the Leaf? Or have they done it properly? Some more technical info please. Without improved battery management, it is barely different from the iMiEV of more than a decade ago.
@@eddiereed5025 kei cars are limited to 140kph. Max speed limit is 100kph on expressways (and we never go above that, honest), generally about 60 elsewhere. I heard the eK X EV (same car, more or less) is a bit wobbly at speed. TBH my Hustler is a bit wobbly too, mostly because it's high sided and light.
America's ev disaster stems from them 'starting at the top', making nothing but super expensive luxury evs. What they SHOULD HAVE DONE, is start with the "ev as second car", and pumped out millions of these type cars. Perfect as that second city car for commuting, getting groceries or just running about town. With gas prices as they have been since around 2020, imagine the tens of millions of Americans who would have rushed out and bought an $16,000 EV with 200 miles of range... (Yeah, I know this car only gets 112 miles, but if they just bumped it up to 200 for a city car...)
in general, a narrow, tall car will always profit from an EV architecture. Heavy batteries in the floor help prevent a car from getting tippy and bouncy. However, this very nice review failed to mention how the Sakura handles, and how it feels on urban motorways. If it was OK, and charging speed was good (is it?), then the Sakura could solve 75% of folks's car needs.
The issue with Kei cars are the safety rating. Safety is basically none existent. I guess this makes exporting them a problem, as they are not allowed in countries. They even have separate rules in Japan regarding speeds on highways etc. Also, please Fully Charged, can we stop with the silly titles and at least include the car name in it? Something like 'The Nissan Sakura - A £13,000 Electric Car With Sofa Seats!'. Even SEO wise it would help..
Finally, a car that can actually be called small & affordable instead of all the other crap given said descriptions on this channel. Now, I would love to see this in Europe but I doubt those prices will carry over which is a real shame as this car is right up my street!
If anyone watching this video has visited a huge Japanese city, they would agree that this car is perfect for that environment. Makes a lot more sense than something like a 500e. Enjoyed the video.
Finally a good review of a car that's actually useful. It's been three months of bloated suv and useless powercars since a review of a car somewhat affordable to the middle class.
Imagine tall aftermarket wheel arches and slightly bigger wheels on this model.. Slam it it 1" inch and it would suddenly look like a sporty hot hatch.
we keep on asking for a practical affordable ev car. but the executive appear to be hearing our request thru a child's string teleph 5:20 one. Yeah build a car that can do 60 mph in 2.0 seconds with a 900 mile range and take 8 passengers and their luggage. No wonder the car become the size of the Titanic. Just listen and stop talking about yourself for one second.
Perfect for london Please bring it on This should be the Micra EV Nissan needed all along. Everyone loved the Micra during the 90s then it got all bland and boring. This will dominate the small car sector again.
Great product and great service, well done! We do need more small/city EVs for sure also in Europe. One small note, I am pretty sure the Sakura comes with V2G (vehicle-to-grid) capability, which is an intrinsic capability provided by the CHAdeMO plug/protocol (like in the LEAF and the env-200). This is far better than a "simpler" V2L (vehicle-to-load), which does not give you the possibility to connect the EV with the rest of the grid/home like V2G does, but only supply a single appliance.
Intelligent car. Perfect runabout for local chores, school run, short commute, etc., etc. Here in Australia price would be $20K+ unless there's a govt grant attached.
What a pleasant surprise to Nissan bring this to market, I will share this in all the FB groups and see what the response is!! Lets make them in the UK like the Leaf I bet they would go like hot cakes.
Wish for it in the US, but simply won't happen because they THINK the people won't want something sensible and affordable....they are wrong, till then my Leaf ticks all the boxes!
The key problem with the Leaf has always been battery life. Air cooling doesn’t cut the mustard. Unfortunately this video said nothing about the Sakura’s battery technology. If it doesn’t have a LFP or LMFP battery with active cooling, I don’t want it.
The Ariya uses an active battery thermal management system with liquid cooling. If the Sakura uses the same technology, as Eliot claims in the video, it should have active cooling too. It would also be weird if Nissan learned from it's mistakes in the Leaf for the Ariya but then not for the Sakura.
This is exactly the kind of car needed for urban use, such as shopping and the school run. I don't doubt there will be huge pressures trying to prevent it being imported to Europe and the US, or some way of hiking the price up. I would certainly consider buying one at $16k.
Shocking Nissan after all these years that Nissan after all these years of having only the Leaf and the Aryah that they would actually have another EV! 😮They could have had several vehicles on the Leaf platform all those years 🤨🤨🤨.
The Kei car concept is just brilliant anyway, whereas here everybody suddenly has strong arguments for huuuuge ugly SUVs. Today having 2 kids or one dog is already an argument for fat SUVs, even if it mainly means driving the kids 2km to school. 😂😂😂
The Nissan Sakura would take and eat the whole cake of Echo/Yaris, Mazda2, HondaCity, most Suzuki's, smaller Peugeot/Renault/Ford/Chinese models, just because it's an affordable EV from a known reliable brand. Majority of small car users don't need long range.
Huge difference to what? Plugging your cellphone to power it with that solar roof? These things are completely useless on a car unless the whole car is covered in it back to front, event then the surface wouldn't be enough for anything useful on this tiny car.
I’ve always thought the UK was a good target market for Kei cars given the size of our roads, parking spaces and town congestion. But we’re also quite a vain bunch, so the general public pretty much rejected driving around in Postman Pat’s car (As my parents would put it) and instead opted to go the other way and drive larger and larger SUVs. Real shame as I feel this trend has shaped safety legislations and public expectations such that a car like the Sakura wouldn’t realistically get an official release even though I’m sure the public would show far more interest in it that a Citroen Ami.
Would be great to have Kei cars for European cities, but I'm not sure if there ever even was a Kei car officially sold over here. Maybe the Daihatsu Copen? P.S.: It would have been rather hilarious if only for this video you would have worn a cap with "SHANGHAI" on it, Elliot! 😉🤣
@@clarksonoceallachain8536 the Copen reminded me of the Suzuki Cappuccino and that reminded me of the Suzuki Wagon R - both kai cars that were sold over here.
BYD’s advantage is brand trust. Long term availability of parts and especially affordable batteries. Japanese carmakers will have a hard time to match that. I’m hoping that they will as more competition is good.
This car is a nice strategic move for Nissan. They like other Japanese car companies are behind the curve and cannot compete with tesla and China, presently. But building an electric Kei car allows them some breathing space. This is reminiscent of when Japan started building the humble transistor radio.
The reviewer praises the 20kWh battery but as a Sakura owner I think that’s the worst thing about the car. Too small! Why not make it 30kWh? The second worst thing is the piddling charging speed. It won’t accept more than 2.8kW at a time. That’s horrible.
One of few EVs I wouldn't buy used too, given that everyone else's battery degradation is acceptable, but the battery degradation in the leads is too much imo
We need small EV’s if you want to sell them in numbers. Large expensive EV’s will not sell to “normal 9:57 “ people in the UK. 0 to 60 in less than 2 seconds! Who cares. I don’t have driveway in my terraced house to charge. More chargers are needed.
Brilliant car, I had only Nissans; micra, Almera, note, leaf gen 1 and now leaf gen 2. I am not sure I will buy a Chinese car for many reasons. More likely stick with Japanese, French or German made brands.
I really like your shows - - - But why do so many presenters not show the hauling capacity of the vehicles being presented. The ability to haul crap is really important. My current car has not had the rear seats up in the last year. - - - Do the rear seats fold down in this unit? What does it look like? How about a 74 liter garbage bag blown up and tossed into the space?
Mmmm - yeah almost everything you tell us is correct. HOWEVER, the main reason that Nissan are currently not looking to sell this vehicle in the U.K. is that it would need to be more expensive to enable it to meet more stringent safety regulations, therefore it would probably mean it could not be built and sold profitably in the uk. However as you rightly pointed out, never say never.
Not much info on the car, beyond its squishy seats. What kind of battery/thermal management does it have? Whats the warranty on the battery? This info should be added to every car review, its essential info for every EV.
The back seats look space-compromised but he seemed to have forgotten to slide the back seats back a bit to add for more leg room. At 6ft myself, I had plenty of space in the back when I sat in it. It was surprisingly comfy.
As someone who knows kei cars This is the heaviest kei car in production at 1080kg Surpassing the daihatsu terios kid And due to the nissan sakura using the heaviest kei body style The sakura will remains the heaviest kei car A electric daihatsu tocot would be 850kg
Kei cars certainly don''t sell in North America but perhaps elsewhere. No information about battery management - that raises red flags. Nissan is famous for the lack of it. Also high risk that a battery that small is not likely to last too well since it will go through many full cycle equivalent charges.
minor gripe, presenter height was shown in ft and in, might as well be presented as elbows and knuckles as far as the vast majority of the worlds population is concerned. please use 20th century measurements.
As a first gen Scion XB owner I love the boxy shape of many Kei cars and the in town/run about practicality of them so its no surprise that I would buy one of these in a heartbeat if available in the US
This is how EV cars should be, small city-urban confortable cars for driving around your city
I think they should be small. But that doesn’t mean they should be for driving round urban areas. They should be small and used for long journeys in my opinion. And leave towns and cities for cycling and public transport.
Those have already existed for a decade. EVs need to be able to functionally replace ICE as well.
@@Anothernerdyloser314do they? What are the use cases where you MUST have an ICE? Range? The Mercedes EQXX proves that EVs can go way beyond 1000km with one charge on a highway with highway speed.
And if you have a small EV with a small range and no rapid charge but want to go a longer distance once or twice a year, why not rent a vehicle which can do that? You don't have to own it. It could be a bigger EV with a range extender or bigger more expensive battery.
@@phelanwolf6747 Try breaking down with an EV in a rural area. Nobody has a clue how to fix the bloody things.
@@phelanwolf6747 No sane working class person is going to buy 87 300€ Mercedes EQXX just to get work without having to charge it every other day.
Can you recommend car that is under 10 000€ (price that can buy small single person apartment here) that has 200+km actual driving range on -25C weather.
My work driving is anything from 20km to 200km daily no matter the weather so it needs to be able to handle that upper range without making me late during work just because I run out of range.
I have been looking for EVs for a while but cheapest nation wide is Leaf with 400 000km driven with bit over 200km range according to cars insruments(not real range in bad weather) that is ~13000€. I also dont have home charging ability so it would need to charged at public charger.
Love it! Looks like a great car for the price.
Small. Aero. Simple. Not too funky but with plenty of cheeky personality. Transports 4 people. Inexpensive. Can't go wrong.
Not sure all your audience know the Kei car rules - would have helped if you gave a summary - these car are Japan market only due to the regulations that define them.
Range? Charging speed? For the price I expect a tiny battery and very modest (overnight?) recharging time.
It would be great if these were available in the UK (at an equivalent price to $16,000). Only thought is that some bigger wheels and more ground clearance to allow softer suspension might be a good idea to help deal with our rough roads. Could imagine a slightly larger version (like the wagon R+ vs the wagon R) might appeal in the UK market too.
ain't no general reason why a Kei car can't be sold in Europe (after all, the Mitsu iMiev was originally a Kei). Emissions aren't a thing for EVs (surprise, surprise) and crash protection is generally very good for any car sold in Japan. Modify it, and bring it on over, Nissan!
I was hoping you guys would review this one.
Strangely reminds me of the Golf plus doors, they were designed for elderly ease of access 🤔
right pricing is all that matters and Japanese car have good quality and durable also
Kinda surprised a car that sized has a body panel big enough to host a charge port.
Looking forward to it being sold in the UK for about £25k in about 5 years time...lol
Still too many buttons in the cabin for my liking... could still be simpler (and cheaper!) but much better than the usual SUV tanks!
It's not a secret if 23k people buy one in a few months
At that price it would massively undercut the Dacia Spring. It would definitely sell in UK and Europe.
It very likely has many of the same parts. The Renault Nissan alliance shares platforms and Dacia is Renault's budget brand of course.
Probably won't be able to sell it at that price in Europe. Part of the higher price in Europe for cars is the requirement for so much active and passive safety equipment.
Really like small electric cars but there aren't many available. I'm sure Nissan would do well to sell it in Europe. If they have the capacity.
There would be a 50-100% Europe/UK premium charged on top. This would be €25-30,000 in Europe.
@@beetooex Other than the Dacia Spring is NOT a Renault or a Dacia, it is a rebadged Chinese EV
What a great car. Would be great to have it in Europe
They'd be selling as many as they can produce. Great family car. Great price. At that price you can buy two of them and it would still be cheaper than the SUV monstrosities other manufacturers sell. Maybe have an extended range version with a bit more battery and you cover a lot of the market.
Now here's why that won't happen for a while: Nissan doesn't have the supply chains to pull that off.
It would probably be £27k + 😂
Dacia are selling the Spring ev in the UK later this year which is a small compact SUV.
I'd much prefer this boxy Nissan though.
I've said it before that manufacturers should have a way for customers to buy and officially import one off cars from other markets, within reason of course.
How cool would that be!
Would really sell, unless they charge honda e prices.
@@JillesvanGurp I fully agree. With a little more battery capacity, maybe 25 or 30 kWh, and priced at around €18,000 (£15,500) so that you can actually travel 200 km (125 mi), it would be THE ideal vehicle for any urban environment.
Bring this to India please. This is the kind of EV we really want- 4 door small light family cars.
Talk with nitin gadkari
Rest of the world needs it more
Really can you show an analysis that the people of India wants this type of vehicle?
@@piercelawless2654 More? You realize we are all in this together right?
@@andrew-729 in what? I'm saying the UK and Europe for that matter need it much more. We have tiny roads and need these to replace the brutish SUVs clogging up roads
This would be amazing on Greek islands. Most islands are no where near that range in circumference 😀
They should just get something like the Wuling Bingo, which is bigger and far more usable than the Sakura, with proper boot, and also only cost 10k USD versus the Sakura's 16k USD price tag.
for greek islands melex or citroen ami would be good enough
Here in New Zealand a massive amount of our cars are secondhand Japanese imports, so I reckon I'll be seeing these around fairly soon, whether Nissan goes global with it or not.
There is one for sale currently
@@unknownentity742 I looked in Japan import sites,a few at 23-26kNZD, some even less than 10km on the clock, plus import charges.
Really hope they make it across to the UK! It looks great, it has plenty of range for the occasional trip outside of town. Much better than another SUV!
Drove one in Japan in March. They are a really cool little car and super roomy. No problem at all fitting 4 of me at 190cm tall.
How did you find 3 more of you?
@@netgnostic1627 You get access to Naruto skill Kage Bunshin no Jutsu when you arrive at the airport, obviously. Have you never been to Japan?
@@rlaxton666 😁
@@rlaxton666I have. And I turned into a massive Titan and started to massacre every gaijin there. Great time desu
I'm guessing second hand Sakura's are going to be massive on the import market to the UK in a few years.
𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬.
Many people in Japan change their cars much more frequently than people in Australia where I live.
For countries where people drive on the left, like the UK, New Zealand, India and Australia, second hand Japanese cars can often be sold with little modification and at a price many people can afford.
I think so too, they're probably going to be as popular as the first generation Honda HR-V is in Singapore where most people instead have the Honda Vezel (the JDM version) with the ETC reader replaced with an LTA IU and with an aftermarket head unit (usually a Pioneer unit) installed by the used car dealer.
We have yet to see how well used market is with electric cars
Surely at £12k it’s cheap enough to buy new and import. 🤷🏽♂️
I want to know what the charging is like before importing one - my guess is that it's designed for 110v Japanese homes.
Well done, both the episode and the car. Hats off to Nissan. Love the styling, interior, and the dash. No huge screens, just what you need. Like squishy seats and cloth, so kudos on that. 😊
As a happy i-MiEV owner here in the US, my message to Nissan is to bring this car to America ASAP. Fit it with a NACS inlet and preserve the V2L capability. Done. If any of your marketing people disagree, fire them.
Do you want it ASAP or do you want it with NACS AND V2L. You can't have both.
@@geirmyrvagnes8718 It was announced at one of those recent Tesla conference calls that all their cars would be bi-directional capable by 2025. This tells me that to connector has always been ready, but the electronics in Elon's current vehicle aren't.
@@benjaminnead8557 I have not heard about such an announcement, but this is not a Tesla product anyway. Tesla can at this point do things their own way and it will become the de facto standard. Nissan can not.
@@geirmyrvagnes8718it already has the V2L for the Japanese version, so it’s swapping the connector and good to go. Not much change needed
Kei cars are illegal outside of Asia
If that was released in Australia, I would buy one tomorrow.
Yep. I wouldn't even be concerned about the undersupported Chademo plug (as I would predominantly be charging from a 10amp GPO at home).
This Nissan Sakura is even better than my often imagined EV version of a Kia Picanto.
Being from the US I don’t fully understand your laws, but I thought you guys were very able to Greg market import these. Is that not true?
Sometimes yep, but not always.@@JonathanLong
same.
A perfect city car for Nissan-loving seniors in the UK, now that the Micra has got too big.
I saw a new Toyota Yaris in town the other day and they are *huge*. What happened? Do all car models eventually become SUVs by osmosis?
@@octarinehksure you didn't see the Yaris cross?
@@octarinehkin America at least, CAFE makes it easier to make an SUV compared to a smaller car. Restrictions are harsher for smaller cars compared to bigger cars, why bother making small cars at that point when you can make SUVs more easily?
I think the biggest difficulty with the Micra in the UK is that you can't buy it anymore. Not a bad thing since the last one was pants but still
@@octarinehk The current Yaris about the same size as my six year old Yaris Hybrid. Toyota has badged a small SUV thing as a Yaris Cross which is much more bloated than the standard Yaris. I bought my Yaris six years ago because at the time there were bugger all charging points in the country (and what there were, were Tesla). Now it's much better but I want a small car (Spanish parking spaces are small, and often hard to find in Spanish towns and cities) - ideally one that isn't going to break the bank and yet has a reasonable range. As a city car the Sakura would be perfect - but it only has a 110 mile range so not much use for longer trips (which is obviously not it's intended purpose).
Expanding on a couple of things not mentioned or only touched on lightly:
1.) It's technically not manufactured by Nissan but by NMKV (Nissan's joint venture with Mitsubishi for manufacturing Kei cars). Thus it's built on Mitsubishi's eK platform and has a sister EV in the eK X EV.
2.) The powertrain has its roots in the i-MiEV, but the battery back is an evolution of the Leaf pack. I had really hoped it would have the SCiB type pack from the M-grade i-MiEV as those still have high resale value here in Japan as 100,000km and 10 years later their packs are still showing 100%+ capacity, and outperform the Sakura's battery pack in charging speed.
3.) The quoted price is after government subsidies (not before).
4.) The V2L mentioned has been around here in Japan for about a decade now. Pretty much all EVs (except Teslas) sold here support it, including PHEVs and Hydrogen Fuel Cell cars. It's basically part of the CHAdeMO spec and pretty much all cars here use it (again, except Teslas).
5.) Oh yeah, it's "Sakura" not "SakUUUra" 🙂
Electric Kei-cars make a lot of sense, and Nissan has the know-how to do them right. Yet I don’t think they’ll sell them in other markets for probably the same reason they don’t sell regular Kei-cars in other markets.
But what is that reason?
@@brendanfromirelandkei cars all have to follow a certain japanese law, they have a very limited size.
@@crackedemerald4930 which would be perfectly fine in Europe as Dacia Spring has shown. Only US customer won't buy anything smaller than a t-rex just in case they would have to battle one.
US buyers are snapping up 25-year-old kei trucks in the US. A lot of buyers would desperately love to buy small pickup trucks, but the way the EPA wrote the fuel economy standards, it's easier and cheaper for US automakers to make their trucks enormous than to try to make small ones fuel efficient, so they just don't build any small trucks. Once a vehicle hits 25 years old, it's exempt from any sort of import restrictions, so that's why we're now seeing small trucks built before 1998 becoming such popular items here, a lot of times in the original right hand drive configuration.
Ironically, the US automakers could build any number of small electric pickup trucks because they don't have to meet a fuel economy standard. But they won't.
Presumably kei cars would not meet the crash safety requirements for the EU market and the Sakura is too heavy and has too many seats to be an L7e class vehicle.
I'd love to see this here in New Zealand, looks like the perfect small city car. I'd buy one!
I saw last year's one turn up on the second hand market already. If Mitsubishi brings their ev kei car, Nissan might bring theirs.
I haven't even watched this video all the way through yet and I already want two of these!
This would surely sell like hot cakes for urban use. Back seats good for the school runs; pop the back seats down for the shopping run; and great for commute rather than lugging a huge SUV around. 100+ mile range with 20kWh - good efficiency too.
Fab to see a well designed car with a small battery pack. A sure winner, as long as the numbers add up.
Don't forget it's sliding back seats are outstanding from other Kei-cars or even mid-size. Rear seat legroom could be very spacious.
In addition, Pro Pilot is available as an option.
Did Nissan learn from the one mistake with LEAF & has the Sakura got active thermal management?
This is the first Nissan that I have wanted to buy, ever! This is ideal for here in Thailand and with the local EV market starting to take off and with only Chinese cars available it is essential that Nissan launches this as soon as possible.
No mention of Mitsubishi being the first with the i-MiEV. No mention that this is a badge sharing deal with Mitsubishi and their eK X EV. No mention that Mitsubishi built this new EV on all the work that was done for the i-MiEV development, which is basically what the Sakura and the eK X are, the i-MiEV mark 2.
Underrated underdogs of the automotive space.
we need more ev kei cars, great concept.
Next year Honda then Suzuki I think.
Suzuki may make a under 800kg 5 door ev hatch using the alto
Beautiful little car.
I would definetly buy this as my second car in my austrian city vienna.
Always liked small cars.
Wow I'd previously assumed Nissan to be out of the EV game, if they can get this outside Japan it might be a hit
Noticed the CHAdeMO port was still there for 50kW charging. (Seems to have lost the format war in North America -- twice over.)
@@jamesphillips2285 Who cares! It will be mostly charged at home from a standard wall outlet.
@@MrBenHaynes People buy SUVs because they may go camping once/year. (instead of renting).
Looks lovely. Would be great in London. However it'd probably be about £900,000 pounds in the UK 😜
Doesn't meet some UK regs for homologation so can't bring to UK market.
@@bigdhav Which regs?
@@bushmasterflash presumably they’ve not greased the palm of the right Tory mp..
Just pretend it runs on North Sea oil and Rishi will subsidise it.
@@davidspencer7254 He'll use the countries money to subsidise it, and net himself £1.5bn
Great review but the G version you're trying is not $16,000, it's above ¥3,200,000 ~ $21,000 (at today's exchange rate) with the premium interior package you like so much.
I drive an old Opel Agila, a descendant of Suzuki Wagon R+, itself a descendant of kei cars. As soon as I saw this Nissan Sakura I thought "I want one, right now!" This is the first time such a thought happened to me about a new car. And if they make a similar process with it like what led to my car, meaning for other markets just stepping out of the kei car specs a bit (20cm wider, 30cm longer for example) leaving it otherwise just as basic tool of transportation it is now, I think they would have a sales hit.
I had exactly the same thought. I learnt to drive in a Vauxhall Agila, which my parents still have running now 23 years later. It'd be an ideal car for them to replace it and also to replace my Leaf in a couple of years.
Same thoughts here, my 20 year old Agila was written off by a person jumping a red light 4 months ago,I wo uld buy one of these in a heart beat.
what an adorable little car! and YES to cloth seats!! I hate leather (or fake leather seats) - too sticky in the summer, too clammy in the winter. Blech. Cloth seats all the way!
Goodness. The entire world ev market keeps asking for small and affordable. They keep teasing things like this, then dropping another 50k suv...
The company that releases a small, affordable ev in the US will take over.
my father in law drives one, quite brilliant! would be great to have in Europe as well
If everybody drove a kei car the world would be a much nicer place.
The styling just ain't attractive for world wide acceptance
@@baronvonjo1929everybody in the USA loved my Honda beat. They just don’t trust it in our market thanks to the amount of incentives to buy 6000+ lb suvs
@@baronvonjo1929A small price to pay for efficient traffic
@@z-trip5457 I don't think a few extra feet is what decides good and bad traffic. It's the drivers and culture behind said traffic that decide that.
As a cyclist, I adore kei cars. Slow moving, and plenty of space when they are passing. So I agree the world would be a better place if there were more kei cars on the road!
I’d certainly buy one if it was on the market in England!! Great little fun car for city driving!’
I like cloth seats and trim. Hemp should be used.
Have they skimped on battery cooling like they did with the Leaf? Or have they done it properly? Some more technical info please. Without improved battery management, it is barely different from the iMiEV of more than a decade ago.
Not sure if he mentioned it in the video, but the range is about 112 miles.
But it's only 14k euros, so it's competitively priced.
He didnt mention top speed either !!!! pretty crap review
@@eddiereed5025the top speed is when you start to get scared
Thank you.
I was wondering about that.
@@eddiereed5025 kei cars are limited to 140kph. Max speed limit is 100kph on expressways (and we never go above that, honest), generally about 60 elsewhere. I heard the eK X EV (same car, more or less) is a bit wobbly at speed. TBH my Hustler is a bit wobbly too, mostly because it's high sided and light.
America's ev disaster stems from them 'starting at the top', making nothing but super expensive luxury evs. What they SHOULD HAVE DONE, is start with the "ev as second car", and pumped out millions of these type cars. Perfect as that second city car for commuting, getting groceries or just running about town. With gas prices as they have been since around 2020, imagine the tens of millions of Americans who would have rushed out and bought an $16,000 EV with 200 miles of range... (Yeah, I know this car only gets 112 miles, but if they just bumped it up to 200 for a city car...)
What a great city car - thanks Elliot for making the trip to Japan. 🙏
in general, a narrow, tall car will always profit from an EV architecture. Heavy batteries in the floor help prevent a car from getting tippy and bouncy. However, this very nice review failed to mention how the Sakura handles, and how it feels on urban motorways. If it was OK, and charging speed was good (is it?), then the Sakura could solve 75% of folks's car needs.
The issue with Kei cars are the safety rating. Safety is basically none existent. I guess this makes exporting them a problem, as they are not allowed in countries. They even have separate rules in Japan regarding speeds on highways etc.
Also, please Fully Charged, can we stop with the silly titles and at least include the car name in it? Something like 'The Nissan Sakura - A £13,000 Electric Car With Sofa Seats!'. Even SEO wise it would help..
Finally, a car that can actually be called small & affordable instead of all the other crap given said descriptions on this channel.
Now, I would love to see this in Europe but I doubt those prices will carry over which is a real shame as this car is right up my street!
If anyone watching this video has visited a huge Japanese city, they would agree that this car is perfect for that environment. Makes a lot more sense than something like a 500e. Enjoyed the video.
I really love nissan ariya and sakura 😊😊
Finally a good review of a car that's actually useful. It's been three months of bloated suv and useless powercars since a review of a car somewhat affordable to the middle class.
Imagine tall aftermarket wheel arches and slightly bigger wheels on this model.. Slam it it 1" inch and it would suddenly look like a sporty hot hatch.
we keep on asking for a practical affordable ev car. but the executive appear to be hearing our request thru a child's string teleph 5:20 one. Yeah build a car that can do 60 mph in 2.0 seconds with a 900 mile range and take 8 passengers and their luggage. No wonder the car become the size of the Titanic. Just listen and stop talking about yourself for one second.
Looks perfect for many people in the UK & Europe. I'd love one at that price. Any word on range or charging speed?
Perfect for london
Please bring it on
This should be the Micra EV Nissan needed all along. Everyone loved the Micra during the 90s then it got all bland and boring. This will dominate the small car sector again.
Great product and great service, well done! We do need more small/city EVs for sure also in Europe.
One small note, I am pretty sure the Sakura comes with V2G (vehicle-to-grid) capability, which is an intrinsic capability provided by the CHAdeMO plug/protocol (like in the LEAF and the env-200).
This is far better than a "simpler" V2L (vehicle-to-load), which does not give you the possibility to connect the EV with the rest of the grid/home like V2G does, but only supply a single appliance.
Yes, but at the moment, to get V2G you need a hideously expensive charger. Unless you are lucky enough to get on a trial.
@@oneeyedgirl617 ironically you can't even buy one (yet).
In any case even if the Sakura comes to Europe it will be with CCS, so end of the game :(
Intelligent car. Perfect runabout for local chores, school run, short commute, etc., etc. Here in Australia price would be $20K+ unless there's a govt grant attached.
What a pleasant surprise to Nissan bring this to market, I will share this in all the FB groups and see what the response is!! Lets make them in the UK like the Leaf I bet they would go like hot cakes.
Wish for it in the US, but simply won't happen because they THINK the people won't want something sensible and affordable....they are wrong, till then my Leaf ticks all the boxes!
This needs to come to the UK. Would sell like hotcakes for £17k
I love to see great new small cars. More please.
The key problem with the Leaf has always been battery life. Air cooling doesn’t cut the mustard. Unfortunately this video said nothing about the Sakura’s battery technology. If it doesn’t have a LFP or LMFP battery with active cooling, I don’t want it.
The Ariya uses an active battery thermal management system with liquid cooling. If the Sakura uses the same technology, as Eliot claims in the video, it should have active cooling too. It would also be weird if Nissan learned from it's mistakes in the Leaf for the Ariya but then not for the Sakura.
it would be £25k by the time it had the export mark up .
And taxes.
Very nice. Would we ever see this in the USA ? Nissa Sakura. I like the name
I was wondering if you guys were gonna cover this! Cause I'm starting to see them pop up all over Japan now!
Honestly though after seeing this in person today? In the US I'd pick the Ariya but in Japan, I would absolutely go for the Sakura!
This is exactly the kind of car needed for urban use, such as shopping and the school run. I don't doubt there will be huge pressures trying to prevent it being imported to Europe and the US, or some way of hiking the price up. I would certainly consider buying one at $16k.
I can't wait for the JDM Imports of these to hit my country soonish
This is sort of what I'd imagine a Toyota Aygo to look like, if they made an EV version of it
"just like the japanese ev industry" bwahahahaha what a burn
Shocking Nissan after all these years that Nissan after all these years of having only the Leaf and the Aryah that they would actually have another EV! 😮They could have had several vehicles on the Leaf platform all those years 🤨🤨🤨.
The Kei car concept is just brilliant anyway, whereas here everybody suddenly has strong arguments for huuuuge ugly SUVs.
Today having 2 kids or one dog is already an argument for fat SUVs, even if it mainly means driving the kids 2km to school. 😂😂😂
I like it! They *should* sell this all over the world - including the US.
Is it RWD - hopefully?
There was a FWD graphic in the video.
The Nissan Sakura would take and eat the whole cake of Echo/Yaris, Mazda2, HondaCity, most Suzuki's, smaller Peugeot/Renault/Ford/Chinese models, just because it's an affordable EV from a known reliable brand. Majority of small car users don't need long range.
We need this in the U.S.A..
They should fit a solar panel on the roof, with a 20KW/H battery it would make a huge difference!
It would add cost though, not worth it in my opinion.
Should be mandatory for all EVs, after all, cars spend 90% of their life . . . Parked-up or moving in sight of the sun.
@@nicholasroberts6954 They are next to useless and very expensive. Making them mandatory would be silly as they are more or less a gimmick on a car.
@@nicholasroberts6954in Japan a lot would be parked under cover. 🤔
Huge difference to what? Plugging your cellphone to power it with that solar roof? These things are completely useless on a car unless the whole car is covered in it back to front, event then the surface wouldn't be enough for anything useful on this tiny car.
if this was available in the UK i would buy it in an instant
Me too
I’ve always thought the UK was a good target market for Kei cars given the size of our roads, parking spaces and town congestion. But we’re also quite a vain bunch, so the general public pretty much rejected driving around in Postman Pat’s car (As my parents would put it) and instead opted to go the other way and drive larger and larger SUVs. Real shame as I feel this trend has shaped safety legislations and public expectations such that a car like the Sakura wouldn’t realistically get an official release even though I’m sure the public would show far more interest in it that a Citroen Ami.
Would be great to have Kei cars for European cities, but I'm not sure if there ever even was a Kei car officially sold over here. Maybe the Daihatsu Copen? P.S.: It would have been rather hilarious if only for this video you would have worn a cap with "SHANGHAI" on it, Elliot! 😉🤣
The Mitsubishi i-MiEV.
@@FFVoyagerwhich was also available as a Citroen C-Zero and a Peugeot Ion - I had an Ion for 8 years, put 50,000 miles on it - great little car
Subaru vivio was sold all over europe
Also the copen has a GR version now
@@clarksonoceallachain8536 the Copen reminded me of the Suzuki Cappuccino and that reminded me of the Suzuki Wagon R - both kai cars that were sold over here.
BYD’s advantage is brand trust. Long term availability of parts and especially affordable batteries. Japanese carmakers will have a hard time to match that. I’m hoping that they will as more competition is good.
This car is a nice strategic move for Nissan. They like other Japanese car companies are behind the curve and cannot compete with tesla and China, presently. But building an electric Kei car allows them some breathing space. This is reminiscent of when Japan started building the humble transistor radio.
The reviewer praises the 20kWh battery but as a Sakura owner I think that’s the worst thing about the car. Too small! Why not make it 30kWh? The second worst thing is the piddling charging speed. It won’t accept more than 2.8kW at a time. That’s horrible.
I hardly call the Leaf a wining formula. It's been a seriously outdated formula for at least 3 years
One of few EVs I wouldn't buy used too, given that everyone else's battery degradation is acceptable, but the battery degradation in the leads is too much imo
Yup, but sold over a million of them now
We need small EV’s if you want to sell them in numbers. Large expensive EV’s will not sell to “normal 9:57 “ people in the UK. 0 to 60 in less than 2 seconds! Who cares. I don’t have driveway in my terraced house to charge. More chargers are needed.
Bring this to the United States please. This is the kind of EV we really want - 4-door small light family cars.
Brilliant car, I had only Nissans; micra, Almera, note, leaf gen 1 and now leaf gen 2. I am not sure I will buy a Chinese car for many reasons. More likely stick with Japanese, French or German made brands.
I really like your shows - - - But why do so many presenters not show the hauling capacity of the vehicles being presented. The ability to haul crap is really important. My current car has not had the rear seats up in the last year.
- - - Do the rear seats fold down in this unit? What does it look like? How about a 74 liter garbage bag blown up and tossed into the space?
Mmmm - yeah almost everything you tell us is correct. HOWEVER, the main reason that Nissan are currently not looking to sell this vehicle in the U.K. is that it would need to be more expensive to enable it to meet more stringent safety regulations, therefore it would probably mean it could not be built and sold profitably in the uk. However as you rightly pointed out, never say never.
Not much info on the car, beyond its squishy seats. What kind of battery/thermal management does it have? Whats the warranty on the battery?
This info should be added to every car review, its essential info for every EV.
The back seats look space-compromised but he seemed to have forgotten to slide the back seats back a bit to add for more leg room. At 6ft myself, I had plenty of space in the back when I sat in it. It was surprisingly comfy.
Solid state batteries will be the next revolution for EV's
As someone who knows kei cars
This is the heaviest kei car in production at 1080kg
Surpassing the daihatsu terios kid
And due to the nissan sakura using the heaviest kei body style
The sakura will remains the heaviest kei car
A electric daihatsu tocot would be 850kg
Kei cars certainly don''t sell in North America but perhaps elsewhere. No information about battery management - that raises red flags. Nissan is famous for the lack of it. Also high risk that a battery that small is not likely to last too well since it will go through many full cycle equivalent charges.
minor gripe, presenter height was shown in ft and in, might as well be presented as elbows and knuckles as far as the vast majority of the worlds population is concerned.
please use 20th century measurements.
As a first gen Scion XB owner I love the boxy shape of many Kei cars and the in town/run about practicality of them so its no surprise that I would buy one of these in a heartbeat if available in the US