Nissan reveals the Pixo: Its new £18k electric city car

Nissan is the latest carmaker to revive an old name as an EV, but unlike the Renault 5 or Ford Capri you probably won't remember its previous incarnation.

After over a decade in hibernation, the Nissan Pixo is back as an electric city car with a fairly small price tag.

The new Pixo will likely start from around £18,000 and sit below Nissan's Micra EV, offering 161 miles of range.

After 12 years on ice, the Pixo nameplate, previously worn by a fairly nondescript runaround, is back to go up against the new Renault Twingo – a car that it is largely based on.

Nissan and Renault have a partnership that has already created the new Micra EV, and now will see the Pixo be built in the same factory as the Twingo EV.

Nissan says it 'compliments' the recently launched Leaf EV and Micra by 'making electric mobility more accessible for European customers'.

Nissan has revealed its Pixo electric city car - and it's got a lot of similarities with the Renault Twingo. With limited information disclosed so far, here's what we know and what it might cost

The new Pixo goes after a similar target market to the original - but that was a small petrol city car sold in Britain from 2009 and this one is electric

Nissan says the Pixo 'introduces a fresh interpretation of Nissan's design language for compact EVs', featuring curve-inspired proportions, clean surfaces and a confident, if compact, stance.

It has a 'robot face' bumper, pixel-inspired lighting instead of rounded headlights, new rear lights and pixel-themed wheel designs.

Other than that, and some Nissan design '23 easter eggs', the Pixo is essentially a Twingo, but in Wonder Pink or Gear Blue.

This is clearly a departure from the original Pixo, which was a small petrol city car sold in Britain from 2009 and was closely related to the Suzuki Alto.

It seats four adults and the rear seats slide to increase versatility and help accommodate larger seats when needed

There's 18 litres of in-cabin storage and 356 litres of boot space, including 50 litres for cable storage – best in class levels

The Pixo is small but quite practical

The Pixo is a tiny car, measuring just 3,796mm long and 1,790mm wide – around the same size as the Twingo, but bigger than the 'kei' car-inspired Honda Super-N which measures 3,599mm long and 1,573mm wide.

Obviously this will make it an easy car to nip around a city or town in, park and navigate tight spaces and narrow streets: it even has a 9.9m tight turning circle.

Four adults are accommodated and have more individual space as there are only four seats – and the rear seats slide to increase versatility and help accommodate larger items when needed.

There's 18 litres of in-cabin storage and 356 litres of boot space, including 50 litres for cable storage – best in class levels.

The Pixo has a 7-inch driver screen and 10-inch central touchscreen and even Face ID which will unlock your personalised settings when you get in the car

The Pixo packs in plenty of tech

As well as having Google built-in, the Pixo has Gemini AI which is available in 16 languages and dialects, supporting navigation, entertainment and communication.

Nissan says Gemini will learn driver preferences over time by studying conversation history, to make the driving experience as personal as possible.

The Pixo even has Face ID so drivers are recognised by the car's screens, unlocking their personalised settings automatically.

All of this tech is delivered through the 7-inch driver screen and 10-inch central touchscreen.

The Pixo has 161 miles of range, which covers the typical urban journeys drivers will be making

The Pixo uses an all-new Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) battery – the first of its kind to be fitted to a Nissan model in Europe

The Pixo will have a limited range 

The Pixo has 161 miles of range, which covers the typical urban journeys drivers will be making.

This is two miles short of the Renault Twingo's range, but a fair bit longer than the Honda Super-N's 128 miles.

If you want to top up the battery, you can plug the Pixo into a 50kW DC rapid charger and get 15 to 80 per cent charge topped up in 28 minutes.

The Pixo uses an all-new Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) battery – the first of its kind to be fitted to a Nissan model in Europe.

It's not about to set any landspeed records, but the Pixo comes with 80bhp and 129lb ft of torque, to deliver 0-62mph in 12.1 seconds.

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The Pixo's main rivals

The Renault Twingo is the most obvious candidate to go up against the Pixo as they're both being built in Slovenia.

The Twingo is expected to cost £17,000 and will give you 163 miles of range, and a claimed efficiency rating of 6.2 miles per kWh.

Fans will likely love its funky retro-inspired design if they're after a cute city car and are done with boxy SUVs.

The Volkswagen ID Polo offers more range than many small city EVs, with up to 281 miles on tap – enough to do weekend getaways as well as city trips. It can also fast charge from 10 to 80 per cent in just 24 minutes, up to 105kW.

With 441 litres of boot space and 1,200kg towing capacity, it's a small EV that can do a surprising amount.

Another French EV we're excited about, but is rather elusive currently, is the Citroen 2CV.

The original 2CV was a French icon conceived before the Second World War and motorised rural France by providing a low-cost, durable alternative to horses and carts.

We don't have much information about the forthcoming 2CV but it will be closer in size to the Renault Twingo E-Tech than the Renault 5.

It could even undercut the Twingo's £17,000 price tag and be focused on urban driving. Even without much information, the idea of a 2CV for the 2020s is an idea we can get behind.