It’s All About ‘Nissan-ness’
The redesigned 2026 Nissan Leaf is a small electric car that emphasizes practicality and affordability, so its mission is about as different from that of the Nissan Z sports car as it gets. But as Nissan explained in a recent press release, the automaker used engineers from the Z program to help develop the Leaf in an effort to deliver a consistent feeling of “Nissan-ness” across these two very different vehicles.
“Our goal is brand consistency across every segment,” Matthew Wright, a research and development engineer based at Nissan’s Arizona Testing Center, said in a statement. “No matter the vehicle, we want to deliver a comfortable, secure experience so customers are confident behind the wheel.”
Handling Still Matters
“Precise steering and responsive acceleration aren’t just for sports cars,” Wright added. “We made countless adjustments to help ensure Leaf customers enjoy a fun, confident drive.” The goal wasn’t necessarily to make the Leaf feel sportier, but to make it feel like a Nissan.
“The steering precision and controllability are aligned with those in other Nissan vehicles, giving a consistent impression across the lineup,” Wright said. Ride and handling tend to take a backseat to infotainment and driver-assist tech in conversations about the merits of new cars these days, but the way cars actually drive is still an important way for the engineers at Nissan and other brands to make their mark. And when it comes to the Leaf, those engineers have a breadth of experience.
“We want the development team to have a breadth of product experience,” Christian Spencer, Nissan senior manager of marketability, said. The Leaf team includes engineers who worked not only on the Z, but also SUVs, pickup trucks, and sedans, according to the automaker. “We also use shared tuning strategies across the brand,” Spencer said. “Having uniform methods helps us ensure consistent Nissan quality in every car.”
New Leaf Emphasizes Affordability
Nissan
The new Leaf is still very much an economical EV, not a sports car. But in addition to chassis tuning, Nissan made some hardware changes to improve handling. The floor is 80% stiffer than the previous generation, according to Nissan, and this third-generation Leaf adopts a multilink rear suspension in place of the previous generations’ torsion-beam setup.
However, the really big news is a base price of $31,485 for the 303-mile Leaf S+ model. That’s the lowest base price of any EV currently on sale in the United States, and there’s an even cheaper Leaf S model on the way, albeit with a smaller battery pack and likely significantly less range.
