Priced at £56,630 (and there are literally no options), the warmed-up Ariya matches its Volkswagen Group alternatives, and it receives a number of upgrades to make it more special.
Its technical make-up isn’t dramatically dissimilar to that of the standard, dual-motor e-4orce. It uses the same 215bhp front and rear motors, but where they’re held back in the standard Ariya, in the Nismo they’re allowed to deploy their full power for a total of 429bhp.
In Nismo drive mode, it can send up to 60% of the power to the rear wheels. That said, because the motors are the same, that is necessarily done by throttling the front one.
The engineers have tweaked the suspension as well. The rates for the springs, dampers and anti-roll bars have subtly been inscreased across the board, but more so at the back than the front, in a bid to encourage turn-in. Rear rebound damping in particular is up by 67%.
Rather than opt for adaptive suspension, the Nismo uses passive dampers.
In keeping with Nismo models of the past, the Ariya sports a more agressive aesthetic. It sits on bespoke 20in Enkei wheels, shod with Michelin Pilot Sport EV tyres.
Deeper bumers and side skits, a front splitter, ducktail spoiler and lots of red sporty accents complete the look.
