It is called a Crossover and not an SUV, although it is available with four-wheel drive and has a corresponding height. Should the term 'SUV' be considered banned in future, at least for purely electric vehicles? Difficult to call it the successor of the Leaf, which has been successful to date. Enormous that the Leaf has just been introduced with a significantly increased range and can only just keep up with the 'smaller' model.

Although Nissan has a ten-year successful tradition of pure electric cars, almost everything is new, the concept, the platform, the look anyway and even the logo. A bit of Japanese tradition shimmers on the large closed surface, where the radiator grille used to be, a careful collection of about ten different basic shapes.

Yes, it is getting harder to fit cars in the front because the headlights need less and less exit area. That's why the daytime running light in the Ariya is distributed from under the headlights down almost to the lower edge of the front surface. And then there are the slots for the ventilation of the wheel arches, which hopefully will benefit the brakes. Especially important is the radiator grille at the very bottom, because unlike the Leaf, it is combimed with a liquid cooling system with rapid charging behaviour.

Hardly less interesting are the sides with doors designed incredibly close to the pure plane. A sharp edge at the top was enough for the desiger team. The charging flap has two of them. And they dare to let the panels between mudguard and wheel shine, which are actually only attached as accessories to the higher ground clearance.

The rear again takes some getting used to, a lot of space because of the raised waistline, obviously no diffusor is useful, roof spoiler pulled strongly downwards and on top of it two antennas, dickybirds not dissimilar (picture below). At least the tailgate seems to reach relatively far down (picture above).

If one day the subsidies disappear and then car prices rise to the high level to which they were last accustomed, some families will have to give up their second or at least third car if their salaries are lower. That's exactly when you need an egg-laying, milk-bearing woolly sow and that's exactly what this car could be. With sufficient range and a length of 4.6 m, it is still suitable for city driving, probably at the latest by software update partly self- driving with just enough space for the holiday.

Due to its size, it seems to be significantly heavier than an id.3 comparable in range, but in daily local traffic, a pure electric car takes the least offense. If our electricity tariff remains, then an optimistic 20 kWh/100km should cost 6 Euro or a little more. So if the Ariya is not too expensive, it would also have what it takes to be a hit. Even better would be a van without the enormous ground clearance with front-wheel drive.