Nissan has received 17,000 orders for the N7 sedan in a month and is now set to sell it globally
The new Dongfeng Nissan N7 electric sedan has proved to be a hit in China. In the first month of sales, the company received 17,215 orders. What is particularly interesting is that 70% of buyers have never owned a Nissan car before.
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The figure is impressive, although for the Chinese electric car market it is quite common. There, new products often garner tens of thousands of orders in a matter of months. For example, Mazda recently collected 20 thousand pre-orders for its EZ-60 in just a few weeks.
The Chinese started receiving the first N7s on 15 May. Nissan boasts that the N7 has become the best-selling electric car among joint ventures and ranked second among medium and large electric cars cheaper than 200,000 yuan (about $27,600). True, the company did not specify for what period these statistics.
The success in China has encouraged Nissan - the company announced through a press release that it plans to sell the N7 worldwide. But it doesn't yet say when and where exactly the sedan will appear. One thing is certain: it won't be available in the US. But Europe is a likely candidate, especially since Mazda is going to sell its Chinese EZ-6 and EZ-60 models in Europe and possibly Australia.
Incidentally, Nissan recently trademarked the Primera in several countries, including Malaysia. Perhaps the N7 will bring this forgotten name back to life.
While success pleases Nissan, the company didn't have to create the car from scratch. The N7 is largely copied from China's Dongfeng eπ 007. However, the coolest features were not transferred - for example, the scissor doors like in Lamborghini remained only in the original. Nissan has usual doors, but it is hardly important for the majority of buyers.
Otherwise, the N7 does not resemble global Nissan models at all. There is a light bar and intricate LED headlamps at the front. The interior too looks much more modern than any other Nissan, including the Ariya crossover, with a 15.6-inch screen, wireless phone charging, a two-spoke steering wheel and a very minimalist design.
Amusingly, for publicity photos, the Chinese electric car was placed next to the legendary GT-R, the most Japanese car they could find. Nothing emphasises common roots like an electric car from China and a 16-year-old turbocharged sports car from Japan.
Prices for the N7 start at 119,900 yuan (about $16,600) - pennies by Western standards. The base version has a 58 kW⋅h battery, a 215 horsepower motor and a range of up to 510 kilometres.
There are richer Pro and Max configurations with the same motor - for 129,900 yuan ($18,000) and 139,900 yuan ($19,400). And versions with a large 73 kW⋅h battery cost from 139,900 to 149,900 yuan ($19,400 to $20,800).
Source: Carscoops