The Los Angeles Auto Show is upon us once again, and once again automakers hosted events the night before the media day. Some things don’t change, even if this time we had to wear masks indoors and fill out a form saying we didn’t have COVID, as far as we knew.
This is how I found myself standing in a rented mansion in the Hollywood Hills — one that had a stunning view of L.A. — clutching a plastic glass of wine and listening to actor Jay Ellis extol the virtues of the Nissan Ariya EV. All because reservations for the Ariya opened up officially on Tuesday night.
In a scripted exchange, Ellis whined to a Nissan exec that he couldn’t secure the first reservation for the Ariya because Brie Larson, the brand’s other actor/brand ambassador, had supposedly spoken for the first one.
Whether that’s true or not, if you, the non-celeb, want one, you can plunk down $500 (refundable) and stake your place in line.
You can also get a two-year free membership to EVgo and $500 in charging credits if you’re one of the first 10,000 to reserve a car before January 31, 2022.
There are four Ariya models from which to choose. All of them come with a 87 kWh liquid-cooled, lithium-ion battery, available ProPilot 2.0 Assist, Nissan’s Safety Shield 360 suite of driver-aid/safety tech, wireless Apple CarPlay, and wired Android Auto.
The base Venture+ model has front-wheel drive and starts at $45,950 and offers up to 300 miles of range. Power is listed at 283 horsepower and 221 lb-ft of torque.
The Evolve+ trim adds $3K and loses 15 miles of range. The Premiere FWD trim costs $53,450, while the top-trim Platinum+ e-4ORCE AWD has a dual-motor setup, 389 horsepower, 442 lb-ft of torque, 265 miles of range, and costs $58,950 to start. None of those prices include the $1,175 destination charge.
If you want a Premiere FWD, by the way, you must reserve it.
Deliveries are slated for the fall of 2022, with AWD models following the FWD cars.
[Images: Nissan]
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