Two front-drive types and an all-wheel-drive flagship selected.

MID-May release for the model on which Nissan NZ’s electric car drive will rest has been preceded with sharing of pricing along with confirmation it will span three derivatives, and two battery sizes.

The single motor and front-drive Advance and Engage are coming in with a 63kWh unit, whereas the flagship Evolve ramps up to a 87kWh type, with dual motors for all-wheel-drive, labelled E-4orce is Nissan-speak.

Pricing for those cars already shared to dealers is $76,990, $82,990 and $109,990 respectively.

Nissan NZ insists those amounts are still indicative and will not be resolved for a week or so; hence why it has been reluctant to go fully public with them.

That issue will likely remain a process to finalise when next step in Ariya’s local introduction kicks in. That is is the activation of a landing page on the Nissan NZ website. That’s set to happen within the week. Within a month, that element will include opportunity for placement of pre-orders.

The derivative names strike as a change from the norm; until recently, it seemed probable the historic SL, Ti and Ti L designations would be employed.

Ariya has been in the wind for several years and there are already grey examples in the country - some of which have advertised at prices well above those that Nissan NZ has put out to its franchises.

The distributor also toured its own demonstrator late last year. 

Ariya is the first electric car Nissan has created since the Leaf, which though a ground-breaker of its era is not well-dated and outmoded by many other electric vehicles.

Nissan refers to Ariya as a coupe-crossover, and the futuristic body is certainly swoopy, though also practical, with ample space inside for five passengers and their luggage - lineball with the Qashqai.

Ariya’s dedicated EV platform is shared with the Renault Megane E-Tech Electric, which was expected to have gone sale around now. 

However, Renault NZ u-turned on that plan on December 8, suggesting that without Clean Car discount it wasn’t a good time to launch.

Rivals for Ariya will likely cite as the Skoda Enyaq, Volkswagen ID.4, Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6.

The model line Nissan NZ has settled on seems close to that offered in Ireland, but there is insistence the specifications are not identical.

The smaller battery comes with a 161kW electric motor, while the 87kWh two-motor, all-wheel-drive model has 228kW.

Charging is accessed via a flap in the passenger side front wing. At a rapid DC charger, the maximum rate is 130kW, meaning the 63kWh battery can be topped up from 10-80 percent in around half an hour; the larger taking around twice that long.

In Ireland, even the Advance is pretty generously equipped, with 19-inch alloy wheels, full LED headlights, a heated windscreen and mirrors, auto lights and wipers, privacy glass, twin 12.3-inch screens for the driver and infotainment, 360-degree cameras, adaptive cruise control, wireless Apple CarPlay, automatic parking and a host of safety features.

The Evolve there adds a panoramic opening glass roof, a Bose stereo, adaptive main beam headlights, ventilated front seats, head-up display, a power tailgate, LED ambient lighting and a power-operated tailgate with a movable floor, similar to what you get in a Nissan Qashqai.