Nissan reveals wild new single-seater | FOS Future Lab

02nd December 2021

Bob Murray

How best to promote your forthcoming electric SUV? Turn it into a single-seater racing car. That’s entirely logical to us, and it’s a logic admirably shared by Nissan which has now brought the idea to a stunning copper-and-black reality in the form of Ariya Single Seater Concept.

You can rely on Nissan to do madcap motorsport-inspired things – remember the dart-shaped and all-electric three-seat Blade Glider? This dramatic one-off is the latest attempt by the company to reinforce the design and technology links between road and track.

Alas it is a one-off, and at this stage a model, but Nissan is surely likely to build it for real, as it did the Blade Glider, for demos to tie in with the launch of the firm’s first electric crossover. The Ariya was scheduled to arrive in 2021 but was delayed (blame the microchip shortage) and is now scheduled for early in 2022. Unfortunately the thought of a whole host of Ariya Single Seaters lining up in a one-make race series is probably a step too far.

It certainly wouldn’t look out of place on a motor circuit. It’s low and wide and full of formula-car cues, from the winglets and rear wing to a Formula 1-style Halo to protect the driver’s head. There’s a new take on cycleguards up front and wheel spats behind, and with all the bodywork rendered in contrasting copper and black it looks pretty cool.

It also hints at the design of the Ariya SUV – so says Nissan anyway. In fact the only element remotely similar is the deep V graphic on the nose, which like the road car lights up to show this is an electric vehicle.

For Nissan design chief Alfonso Albaisa the racer concept does however show what sportier electric cars from Nissan could look like in the future. He said the concept showed a new design language based on Japanese words for running fast and “soaring with power and grace”.

“The Ariya Single Seater Concept is the perfect expression of this new language,” Albaisa tells us. “Leveraging the Ariya’s EV powertrain in a motorsports-inspired package allowed our international team to capture this new sense of speed, technology and artistry.”

Using the best powertrain from the Ariya SUV would mean twin electric motors and 394PS (294kW) fed to all four wheels via a clever GT-R-inspired torque split system, all honed by Nissan’s experience in Formula E racing. Nissan’s global motorsports director Tommaso Volpe says such a powertrain in a bespoke racing chassis would “show just how thrilling electric vehicles could be.”

With much less weight to cart around than the SUV and decent aero to make it stick, the Ariya racer indeed should have plenty of pace. So build it Nissan and show us! We want to see it dashing up the Goodwood Hill next year – just like the Nissan Blade Glider did in 2017.

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