Automotive

Nissan Leaf converted into a stretch limo

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A Nashville hotel now shuttles its VIP guests in an all-electric Nissan Leaf limousine (Photo: Imperial LimoLand)
The interior of the Leaf limo features leather upholstery and cedar paneling (Photo: Imperial LimoLand)
The Leaf limo is intended for use by VIP hotel guests (Photo: Nissan)
The Leaf limo seats eight passengers, including the driver (Photo: Nissan)
The leaf limo has just one battery, but it's been moved into the rear for better balance (Photo: Nissan)
A Nashville hotel now shuttles its VIP guests in an all-electric Nissan Leaf limousine (Photo: Imperial LimoLand)
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So, you think that a Ferrari, Smart fortwo or Mini are all unlikely choices for limousine conversions? Well, how about the current poster car for green transportation, the all-electric Nissan Leaf? Missouri-based Imperial LimoLand recently created such a beast, for use by the Embassy Suites Nashville South hotel. The staff at the hotel claim that it is “the world’s first road-worthy, licensed, street legal electric limousine.”

The Embassy Suites chain is reportedly very big on both luxury and going green. Combine this with the fact that the typical trip for the Nashville hotel’s VIP guests is under five miles (8 km), and the Leaf seemed like the logical choice.

LimoLand left most of the original car intact, but added snazzy interior features such as mirrors, leather upholstery, and cedar paneling. The vehicle is still powered by its one 24 kWh battery, although it has been moved to the back for better weight distribution. Speaking of weight, 400 pounds (181 kg) of it were added to the middle of the vehicle, in the form of increased body length and extra seating.

The Leaf limo is intended for use by VIP hotel guests (Photo: Nissan)

Embassy Suites claims that the car is able to comfortably seat eight passengers, including the driver – LimoLand describes it as a six-passenger vehicle, although that may not be counting the two front seats.

There’s no word on the driving range of the Leaf Limo, or how much it cost. You can check it out in motion, however, in LimoLand’s video below.

Source: Nissan, Imperial LimoLand, via Inhabitat

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5 comments
Niklas Wejedal
And to no surprise, it looks, from a designers point of view, just as awkward and ugly as any other stretch limo: all flow of the lines destroyed with the "extruded" looking midsection brutally cutting the car in two halves. The only cars I know that works design-wise as stretch limos are old Cadillacs, Rollses and other 70/80 sedans with a straight line design. Curvy cars will only work, if designed as a limo from the start!!
Dawar Saify
With all the passengers the performance will be hit. Why would they stretch it without performance in mind.
Ian McIntosh
Because it is a Limo. Not a race car. Sometimes a car is just for transport, not fun.
Slowburn
Why stretch a Leaf? Even if you want an electric limo starting with a SUV will give you a better vehicle even if you use a Leaf's drive train.
Robert Weekley
The Car already Works and Limo Makers usually have authorization to certify stretches by Car Companies themselves, as well as D.O.T. to take a drive train from a LEAF and put it in a SUV is even less practical - in that instead of just 400 lbs heavier - it would likely end up maybe 1000 lbs heavier in an SUV Stretch!