Nissan Newbird EV – the electric love child of the Nissan Bluebird and Nissan LEAF

The Nissan Newbird is a 1980s Nissan Bluebird with the heart of the electric Nissan LEAF, celebrating 35 years of Nissan in Sunderland.

Now Nissan has woken up to the need for a bit more than the LEAF to drive it into an EV future, we’ve seen the Nissan Ariya priced ahead of arriving on driveways in 2022, and a number of Nissan EV concepts pointing to future electric models as part of Nissan’s Ambition 30 Drive.

Now we get a new electric concept car from Nissan – the Nissan Newbird – to promote Nissan’s EV ambitions, although this one definitely isn’t heading into production, its performance is woeful by modern standards and its range is modest. But it’s an important statement nonetheless.

Nissan arrived in 1986 as a UK car producer in Sunderland, and is marking that 35th anniversary by taking the Nissan Bluebird – the first car to roll out of Sunderland – and mating it with a Nissan LEAF to create the one-off Nissan Newbird.

The LEAF’s 40kWh battery pack has been stuffed under the bonnet and boot of a used Bluebird, with an electric motor, beefed up the suspension to cope with the battery weight, electric steering, braking and heating and a fuel gauge turned into a battery range gauge. There’s even an 80s-inspired paint job, although not one that was ever offered on the Bluebird.

The modern EV heart for the Bluebird does little to improve its performance, with 62mph coming up in 15 seconds, and a range on a full charge of only 130 miles or so.

Nissan hasn’t put this Newbird together themselves but got Kinghorn Electric Vehicles, local to Sunderland and specialists in converting old cars to EVs using LEAF bits, to do the work. Their boss, George Kinghorn, said:

Given our location so close to the Sunderland plant, working on this Bluebird conversion was a great project to be part of. When Nissan opened the Sunderland factory it gave the North East a big economic boost. The Bluebird was first off the line, so it represents the start of that optimism, progress and global industrial footprint that’s continued to this day.