Nissan on Tuesday showed off two concepts at the Tokyo Motor Show that it called the bookends of a new design direction and an expansion of its electric vehicles far beyond the Leaf. The newcomers are the Ariya, a concept EV crossover, and the IMk, an EV urban commuter.

The Ariya was described as having a roomy, premium cabin and a design that signals the "pure, clean nature" of EVs. Twin electric motors are supposed to move it along powerfully, and it's bristling with safety tech. It's seen as the symbol of a future where technology and electric power make for safe, clean travel.

It wears a bold, electrified, illuminated version of the Nissan V-motion grille (since it's an EV and no longer a grille, per se, Nissan is calling the thing up front a "shield.") A subtle geometric pattern is revealed when the nose and Nissan emblem light up, and the "shield" houses radar and other sensors for the ProPilot 2.0 driver assist suite, which even allows hands-off driving in certain situations. When in hands-off mode, the interior lighting changes to keep you aware of that, in case your hands off the wheel weren't evidence enough.

The Ariya's date for the evening onstage was the Nissan IMk urban EV commuter concept, details of which we shared when it was revealed earlier this month ahead of the show.

The crossover has dual electric motors front and rear, with all-wheel drive torque splitting that Nissan says is derived from the GT-R and the Nissan Patrol. Details about power, torque and driving range weren't shared at the reveal, however.

Exterior dimensions were provided. The Ariya is 181 inches long, 75.6 inches wide excluding mirrors, and 64.1 inches tall.

The Ariya has the short overhangs and pushed-out wheels of an EV and lounge-y interior of the Nissan IMx concept from the 2017 Tokyo show. The Ariya rides on 21-inch wheels housed in flared fenders and has a distinctive raked C-pillar and even a rear wing. A one-piece light blade crosses the back. The Ariya is done up in deep Suisei Blue, which looks matte from a distance but contains embedded glass flakes that, Nissan says with a flourish, "produce billions of light refractions, reminiscent of a comet crossing the night sky."

Finally, the whole package has accents of copper as an homage to Japanese craftsmanship.

Inside there's the flat floor, thin-frame seats and open interior common to EV concepts, with a minimalist dashboard and glowing, haptic touch controls. Few traditional controls, such as the start button, remain. The leather seating has copper showing through its perforations that complements the exterior accents, and there are satin copper-colored aluminum bits elsewhere in the cabin.

Though the 2017 IMx concept it's derived from had far-out features like a disappearing steering wheel, Nissan says the Ariya is closer to reality, a design that could make make it into production soon. In fact, Nissan was showing a version to dealers last month.

Nissan is busily transforming the electric Ariya concept unveiled at the 2019 Tokyo Auto Show into a production model tentatively due out in 2021. It will be positioned as a bigger, more spacious alternative to the Leaf, and it will receive a dose of performance the cheerful hatchback has never benefited from.

The Ariya is an evolution of the 2017 IMX concept, and it's closer to production than it might seem. The sheetmetal hides the e-4ORCE twin-motor powertrain we recently drove, which promises to deliver acceleration and grip in spades. The Japanese firm hasn't released final horsepower and torque figures, but it hinted the Ariya will be quick.

"Electric motors have changed the world, because this idea of a pure 0-60 is less a differentiator. How you use it, how you deliver it, what it means, and, for the supercars, how many laps you can do, that matters. Naturally, it's exciting. Even the real version of the Ariya is fast — faster or as fast as a Z car," revealed Alfonso Albaisa, Nissan's senior vice president of global design, in an interview with Green Car Reports.

The 370Z takes 5.1 seconds to reach 60 mph from a stop, so Albaisa's comments suggest the Ariya could slip under the five-second mark. He qualified the crossover's handling as "extremely good" thanks in part to the battery pack mounted under the passenger compartment, a configuration which lowers the center of gravity.

Hitting freeway speeds in under five seconds is less important than driving range, but the Ariya should deliver in that department, too. Nissan previously floated a 300-mile range, and Albaisa affirmed that's still the development team's goal. Whether it will achieve that number on the WLTP testing cycle or the EPA's isn't known.

We expect the production version of the Nissan Ariya — a name that might not end up on the tailgate — will reach showrooms in 2021. The company's American dealers got a preview of it in late 2019, so the project has reached an advanced stage. When it lands, it will compete in the same burgeoning segment as the Tesla Model Y, the Ford Mustang Mach-E, the Fisker Ocean, and the Audi Q4 E-Tron. Pricing will start in the vicinity of $40,000.

Nissan plans to reveal its Ariya electric crossover on July 15 and debut it in Japan before offering it in other markets including the U.S. The announcement, reported by Automotive News, came at Nissan’s contentious annual shareholders meeting in Tokyo, where CEO Makoto Uchida announced he was giving up half of his pay and promised a recovery by 2023 based in part on new EV models like the Ariya. This after Nissan lost the equivalent of $6.3 billion in the fiscal year that ended in March.

Uchida said the Ariya, first shown as a concept last October, will help spearheaded the brand’s renewed lineup, with eight battery-electric vehicles by 2024 and 12 new models due globally in the next 18 months.

There’s no word on timing for the Ariya reaching market, but it will reportedly get Nissan’s latest ProPilot 2.0 driver assist technology, which offers hands-free highway driving and pairs it with a driver-monitoring system. That will likely pair with Nissan’s e-4ORCE dual-motor all-wheel drive powertrain. The other news is that the Ariya will likely be built at the automaker’s sprawling Tochigi assembly plant, which is being retooled to build EVs.

We’ve already gotten an indication that the production version of the Ariya will hew close to the concept, the latest being a set of black-and-white patent images. Expect a minimalist cockpit with a roomy interior and flat floor. Nissan has reportedly told dealers to expect a 0-60 mph time of under 5 seconds and a 300-mile driving range.