The Nissan Ariya – an electric SUV rival to the Tesla Model Y – is now officially on sale via the company’s website ahead of first arrivals scheduled for September this year.
Priced from $55,480 before on-road costs, the Ariya is the first SUV EV (electric vehicle) in Nissan Australia showrooms, where it will join e-Power Hybrid X-Trail and Qashqai SUVs and the Nissan Leaf EV hatchback.
Across its three model grades, the Ariya will offer a driving range of between 395-504km (WLTP) from a choice of 63kWh and 87kWh batteries.
There’s also a choice of single-motor front-wheel drive and dual-motor all-wheel drive powertrains.
Slightly longer than the Model Y, at 4595mm the Ariya will also compete with the Hyundai Ioniq 5, Kia EV6 and Ford Mustang Mach-E, among others.
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Yet the Japanese-made Ariya has been in production in 2021 after being revealed in concept form in 2019, with the showroom version unveiled in 2020.
An Australian launch was first planned for 2023, but its arrival was postponed – something which Nissan Australia blamed on Australian Design Rules (ADRs).
The Ford Mustang Mach-E, another Model Y rival, was also revealed in 2019 and due here in 2023 before its launch was pushed back to 2024, the same year Toyota Australia’s first EV, the bZ4X, arrived – two years later than planned.
In addition to ADRs, Nissan also said Ariya supply was constrained as other countries where EV take-up was higher were prioritized.
The timing means the Ariya was not front and centre of an EV price war across the Australian auto industry, led by aggressive price cuts from market-leading EV brand, Tesla – and severely impacted the Mach-E.
“I think we’ve been smart with the timing,” Nissan Australia boss Andrew Humberstone told CarExpert in September 2024.
“Or else we would have had to respond to the market conditions and our pricing would have been catastrophic. I think we’ve read that one well.”
With its September 2025 planned arrival, Mr Humberstone told CarExpert the push to have Ariya in showrooms in 2025 came with the arrival of the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES).
NVES came into effect on January 1, 2025, with limits for carbon-dioxide tailpipe emissions averaged across each automaker’s lineup. From July 1, 2025, financial penalties for brands in breach were enforced.
“I’ve delayed that [the introduction of Ariya] as much as I could in terms of saying, ‘Do I really need to bring in that car yet?’. There comes a point when absolutely you have to offset that from effectively an NVES perspective.”
Nissan also showed a sportier version of the Ariya in 2024, the more powerful Ariya NISMO, which is not yet confirmed for Australian showrooms.
MORE: Everything Nissan Ariya
