- Nissan’s electric sedan available in China is large, affordable, stylish and comfortable.
- It hit a chord with Chinese buyers, selling 20,000 units in its first 50 days on sale.
- Nissan was planning to launch two electric sedans in the U.S., but it canceled its plans.
Nissan received over 17,000 orders for the N7 electric sedan in the first month after launching it in China. That doesn’t quite grant it viral status like the Xiaomi YU7, but it does make it an instant hit, and it shows that when the right sedan comes along, Chinese car buyers will respond.
As well they should: this “Nissan” is a by-China, for-China jam. Under the skin, it’s a Dongfeng eπ (pronounced “ee-pie”) 007 sedan, re-skinned for a Nissan vibe. But that means it comes with the sort of hardware that Chinese buyers expect from their EVs.
Price matters, of course. The N7 is fully electric and costs between 119,900 and 149,900 ($17,000 and $21,000), making it very good value for a vehicle that’s almost exactly the size of the last Maxima sold in the U.S., which makes it as big as today’s BMW i5. But it looks better than the BMW, with a much sleeker profile that makes the German car look like a gaudy SUV.
Two power flavors are on offer, both with a single-motor front-wheel drive configuration. The base car pairs a 58-kilowatt-hour LFP battery pack with a 218-horsepower electric motor, while the long-range model boosts battery capacity to 73 kWh and power to 272 hp.
Interestingly, none of the other sedans built on the same underpinnings are seeing anywhere near its sales success, so the Nissan branding and refinements it brings are clearly doing the trick. The design is all Nissan and this car wouldn’t look out of place in a U.S. showroom alongside the new Leaf. Pasting Japanese styling onto a Chinese sedan can have great results—just look at the Mazda 6e, which does a very convincing impression of an actual electric Mazda, and it drives great, too.
Wheelsboy tested the N7 in China and reports it’s a genuinely good car. Inside, it’s pretty simple and minimalist, but it looks classy. What dominates the cabin is a huge 15.6-inch infotainment screen powered by beefy chips, making the user experience snappy and easy.
Sitting in the back of the N7 reminds you why we liked big sedans in the first place, but the rear seat is set much higher than the front, so you get a good view out. This means you have plenty of thigh support and the rear passenger experience is not too dissimilar from that of a similar-size SUV.
Even though there’s nothing particularly exciting about its powertrain, the N7 has enough for everyday use. The more powerful of the two motors should provide a 0-62 mph (100 km/h) time of around 7 seconds, which is more than enough in a sedan geared for comfort and long-distance cruising. It’s perfectly capable of handling a long road trip in long-range guise with a maximum claimed 394 miles (635 km) on the Chinese test cycle and a claimed electricity consumption of just 4.7 miles/kWh (13.2 kWh/100 km).
Aside from the Tesla Model 3, electric sedans haven’t seen huge success in the United States. But what if Nissan added something like this into its lineup, building it locally or importing it from a country where tariffs are lower? Would you consider buying it for around $40,000, which it would likely end up costing if it were available here? Nissan seems to think you wouldn’t care for it, which is why it canceled the plan for its two U.S.-bound electric sedans.
