Every Photo of Nissan's New Leaf NISMO RC Electric Race Car

Unlike Honda and Toyota, Nissan doesn't yet sell an electric car with all-wheel drive.

While Tesla's D models and supercars such as the Acura NSX have similar capabilities, such motor arrangements needn’t be prohibitively expensive for a mass-market car (witness the new Prius AWD-e).

So by 2022, when Nissan says it will have launched eight new EVs—whether brand-new models or retrofits of existing cars—the NISMO RC's motors and torque-vectoring control will most certainly appear in more conventional wrappers.

The 2018 Leaf we tested reached 60 mph in 7.4 seconds, which is a few lifetimes ahead of the Toyota Prius. Nissan claims this raciest Leaf can hit 62 mph at least three seconds quicker.

A full carbon-fiber monocoque shell helps shave 800 pounds off a normal Leaf, to an estimated 2690 pounds.

Nissan is building six demo cars to parade them at Formula E races and other company events.

Right now, the Leaf NISMO—the closest thing to a high-performance Nissan EV—is on sale in Japan with factory summer tires and upgrades to the suspension, brakes, and other components.

We'll need to wait much longer to be impressed by a genuine NISMO electric car, but if the NISMO RC is any indication, an all-wheel-drive Nissan EV should be an easy add.