Nissan LEAF Pickup
You know what’s one of our favorite things? Being surprised. Whether its a surprise birthday party, an unexpected $20 in our pockets or just a complement we didn’t see coming, being surprised makes up some of our favorite moments at Avondale Nissan. And recently, we got a good one, when some crafty Nissan engineers took a stock Nissan LEAF and crafted…drum roll, please…a Nissan LEAF pickup! And they even named it “Sparky!”
So, first, a little background. Located relatively nearby in Stanfield, AZ is a Nissan tech center and proving ground, where many scientists and engineers while away the hours crafting the delicate algorithms and theories that make Nissan one of the world’s most innovative automakers. So, for a fun team-building activity, they decided to convert a LEAF into something that could serve a dual purpose as a shop vehicle that could capably carry tools.
But how did they do it? First, they trimmed the LEAF down the middle, removing the rear upholstery. They then modified the bed of a Frontier to fit the width of the chassis, before closing off the interior cabin with retrofitted remnants of a late model Nissan Titan. Some fine-tuning and a few minor alterations, and Voila!!–a Nissan LEAF pickup!
It initially was going to be kept in-house, but the word got out. “We tried to keep it a secret and keep it exciting for everybody,” explains engineer Roland Schellenberg. “But we have visitors and they come and see that truck and go straight to, ‘What is it?’ And they start looking at it, and it makes great conversation.’”
So, where can you get one? The short answer is, You can’t. As we said before, this was a one-off experiment by some of Nissan’s finest minds, and probably won’t be seen outside of Stanfield’s Nissan Testing Facility. However, at Avondale Nissan, we definitely have some of the finest and most innovative vehicles, including the 2015 Nissan LEAF, available right here at our Phoenix-area location. Come visit us today!
