Nissan's sub-£20k Pixo is a Twingo with Gemini inside

Nissan has revealed the Pixo, a small electric city car due in the UK early next year. It's expected to cost between £18,000 and £20,000, it has a claimed range of 161 miles, and it's the first Nissan to come with Google's Gemini AI assistant built in. It's also, underneath the new face, a Renault Twingo.

That's not a criticism. Cheap electric cars are exactly what the UK market has been short of, and the Pixo is the latest sign that the sub-£20,000 EV is finally arriving.

A Twingo in a pixelated jumper

The Pixo name is back after 12 years, according to EV Powered, this time as an electric-only model. It's built alongside the Twingo E-Tech at Renault's plant in Novo Mesto, Slovenia, and shares its platform with the Twingo and the Dacia Spring. Nissan has given it squared-off, pixel-style LED headlights, sharper bumpers and a different rear. Carscoops counts 23 "Easter eggs" hidden around the cabin, which is either charming or a sign that a design team had time on its hands.

The numbers are modest, as they should be for a city car:

• Battery: 27.5kWh, using lithium iron phosphate (LFP) chemistry.
• Range: 161 miles on the official WLTP test.
• Charging: 50kW on a rapid charger, around 28 minutes to 80%, and 11kW at home. EV Powered notes that the Twingo can manage 80kW.
• Performance: a 60kW (about 80bhp) motor and 0 to 62mph in 12.1 seconds.
• Space: a 356-litre boot, or 1,221 litres with the rear seats folded.

Gemini comes along for the ride

The more interesting bit is the software. The Pixo has a 10-inch touchscreen with Google navigation and debuts Gemini in a Nissan. According to electrive, the assistant will speak 16 languages at launch. Adaptive cruise control, lane-keeping assist, hands-free parking and one-pedal driving are also listed, along with vehicle-to-load, which lets the car power a kettle or a laptop from its battery.

Ada's take: putting a large language model in a £20,000 car is a sign of how quickly AI assistants have become a cheap commodity rather than a luxury extra. What nobody has said yet is what happens to your voice recordings, how long Google or Nissan keep them, or whether the assistant still works when you've driven out of signal. For a UK buyer, those are UK GDPR questions worth asking at the dealer.

Nissan's vice-president Clíodhna Lyons says the car delivers essential EV features "without unnecessary complexity". A chatbot in the dashboard may test that claim.

What it'll cost you

Nissan hasn't set UK prices yet. Auto Express says official pricing is due in December, and both it and EV Powered expect £18,000 to £20,000. Carscoops reports Nissan anticipates a price "under €20,000" in Europe. Deliveries are due to start early in 2027.

Auto Express also expects the Pixo to qualify for £1,500 off through the government's Electric Car Grant, the lower of its two bands. According to Parkers, the band depends on how much carbon is emitted by the energy used in the factories that build a car and its battery, with the full £3,750 reserved for the cleanest. Nissan hasn't confirmed which band the Pixo will fall into.

The Pixo's main rival is its own sibling. Renault UK is "targeting a starting price below £20,000" for the Twingo, which has a slightly longer 163-mile target range and faster charging, though right-hand-drive cars aren't on sale yet.

To be fair to Nissan

Badge engineering has a bad name, but it's how you make small cars pay. City cars have thin margins, and sharing a factory, battery and platform with Renault is the only realistic way Nissan can sell one at this price. The Pixo also looks genuinely different from the Twingo, which isn't always true of these deals. And for UK drivers without a driveway, a small battery that charges in half an hour on a rapid charger is more useful than a big one they can't top up at home.

Mind the hype. The cheapest Nissan will talk to you in 16 languages. Just ask it the price in December.

Sources: Auto Express, EV Powered, electrive, Carscoops, Parkers, Renault UK