Archive for Nissan

Unlike many concept cars which most of the time pay 99% of attention to the exterior and settle for some futuristic-shaped dash for the interior, the Nissan Intima Concept puts focus on an attractive, hospitable and relaxing interior according to Nissan’s “Modern Living Concept”. The interior has been designed for people who love refined and elegant interiors - yours truly included - whether traveling alone or with a partner.

“We designed the Intima as a car that expresses the interior attractiveness Nissan proposes in the Modern Living Concept. The inspiration came from imagining a situation where a person who has accumulated many life experiences and successes now wants to spend his or her own time, or time together as a couple, in an elegant environment,” says Nissan’s Product Chief Designer Kinichi Saito.

The instrument panel padding is made to appear to float in between the wood grain panels, and the center console incorporates a wave-like pattern. Arm rests and assist grips are chunky to give the passengers a feeling of comfort, something Nissan has already done with the interior of the Nissan Latio.

Ambient lighting provided by the instrument panel, center console, door trim and ceiling, and door assist grips (these feature a blue-green acrylic material and gives off a soft light). The interior is cooled by a four-zone climate control system which provides comfortable cooling for all passengers through the use of infrared sensors. It also uses a natural grape seed polyphenol filter that neutralizes pollen and other allergens.

The front passenger seat can swivel 80 degrees to the outside to welcome the passenger into the car or provide a “first class” send off to whatever destination he or she is going to. The interior is large but feels even larger thanks to a large glass roof which flows continuously from the windscreen onwards.

All in all, apparently they paid so much attention on the interior that they ran out of design hours and decided to nick the exterior from a Mercedes Benz CLS.

More photos after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of TOKYO PREVIEW: Nissan Intima Concept

Shots of the Nissan GT-R are now being circulated around the net thanks to AutoWeek who decided to break the embargo following a previous leak of the production car’s exterior on Motortrend magazine’s December cover.

The Motortrend cover quotes some specs: 0 to 100km/h is achieved in 3.5 seconds, and a quarter mile drag in 11.7 seconds, with top speed maxing out at 310km/h. The car will cost under US$80,000. UPDATE: Edmunds Inside Line has more specs of the car - the twin turbocharged 3.8 liter V6 engine will be putting out 473 horsepower and 588Nm of torque, though there is no indication of what engine speeds these figures achieved. Still, looking at the tachometer you can tell this engine isn’t a screamer. This engine will be mated to a GR6 dual-clutch six-speed transmission with leather-wrapped aluminum paddle shifters - no manual is planned at the moment.

The interior kind of reminds me of an Audi but definitely looks the business, acres and acres of premium-looking black and aluminium trim. The bootspace looks rather decent and the gas shocks do not intrude into the space.

More shots after the jump.

Related Posts:
Nissan GT-R to come with 3.8 liter turbo V6

Click here to read the rest of Nissan GT-R Press Photos and Details Leaked!

We will be able to see the final production version of the Nissan GT-R at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show next week, though many argue that we’ve already seen the production version with the GT-R PROTO shown previously.

While we have an idea what it will look like, specs have been not much but rumours so far, but AN reports that the new sports car will be powered by a 3.8 liter twin turbo V6 sending power through all four wheels with an all-wheel drive system, a GT-R trademark.

Given the modern performance turbocharged engine’s usual 100 to 150 horsepower to liter ratio, expect the new Nissan GT-R to be putting out over 400 horsepower.

It will come in a few colour options: three different shades of silver, white pearl, red and black. There will also be a GT-R Black Edition and a GT-R Premium Edition, other than the normal standard version which starts at US$66,500. The Premium Edition is expected to cost US$72,000.

Source

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Nissan will be displaying an updated version of their Nissan Pivo concept, rather straightforwardly called the Nissan Pivo 2 concept.

It continues with the original Pivo’s fully rotating cabin design which makes the concept of reversing your car obsolete. The Pivo 2 adds In-Wheel 3D motors for the car’s four wheels. These wheels can turn 90 degrees to allow the Pivo 2 to move sideways like a crab as well as the normal forward and reverse movement.

The little robot thing you will see in the photos after the jump is what Nissan calls a Robotic Agent, which can communicate to you everything from basic vehicle functions through to the nearest available parking and can have conversations with you in Japanese and English.

For readers who are in Japan, you can see the Pivo 2 displayed before the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show on the 13th and 14th of October 2007 at the Nissan Ginza Gallery in Chuo-ku, Tokyo from 10am to 8pm.

More images and a video (thanks to LittleFire85) can be viewed after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Nissan Pivo 2 to debut at Tokyo 2007

Earlier we learned that a new 7-seater MPV by Nissan called the Livina will be available in Edaran Tan Chong Motor showrooms by the second half of this year. We’re pretty much right smack in the middle of the second half right now, and a few badgeless Nissan Livina MPVs has already been spotted making it’s rounds around KL. Have a look at a rear shot of a dark red Nissan Livina shown above thanks to reader Steven.

The Livina should be very promising as it would offer us another monocoque car chassis-based 7-seater MPV at under RM100,000 prices. This space is currently occupied by the Naza Citra, though reportedly there is some special deal right now involving Hyundai Trajet MPVs being sold for under RM100k.

Read more on the Nissan Livina in the linked post below to find out why a monocoque-based people transporter has certain advantages over body-on-frame constructed designs like the Toyota Avanza.

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Nissan Grand Livina to arrive in 2nd half of 2007

This strange thing is the Nissan Mixim, a 3-seater microcar that will make it’s debut at the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show next month. The Nissan Mixim is an electric vehicle with a 1+2 seating arrangement accessible via gullwing doors on either sides of the car.

The 950kg car is powered by two “Super Motors” as Nissan calls them, each powering an axle, effectively making the car all-wheel drive.

More pictures after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Nissan Mixim Concept Electric Car

We will be getting two variants of the Nissan Livina MPV here in Malaysia, according to a report by The Edge last week. The Nissan Livina will be available in Malaysia in locally assembled form with engine capacities of both 1.6 and 1.8 liters, and both models will be priced with an under-RM100,000 price tag. These engine capacities are similar to the options for the recently launched Nissan Latio - the HR16DE and the MR18DE.

Edaran Tan Chong Motor hopes to attract middle-income customers - this will put the Nissan Livina smack in the middle of the mid-sized lower segment MPV market. That would put it somewhat in competition with the Toyota Avanza, the Suzuki ER-V and the larger Toyota Innova. However, the Nissan Livina promises a better, more comfortable drive as it is based on a monocoque car chassis.

More information on the 7-seater Nissan Livina can be obtained in the related posts:

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Nissan Livina to arrive in 2nd half of 2007

Source

Nissan Motor Co., Ltd has developed a new catalyst for petrol engines that uses only half the precious metals of conventional catalysts.

A catalyst uses platinum, rhodium and palladium to interact with the exhaust gases causing chemical reactions with nitrogen oxide (NOX), carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrocarbons (HC) - into non-toxic compounds such as nitrogen (N2), water (H20), and carbon dioxide (CO2).

However, the high temperatures of the exhaust gas causes the precious metals to cluster up, reducing exposed metal surface area, thus reducing the effectiveness of the catalyst over time. So what manufacturers have done is use excessive amounts of precious metals so that the catalyst still functions sufficiently well even after the effectiveness has been reduced.

Nissan has used nano-technology to keep the fine metal particles separated under high temperatures, so that only the necessary amount of precious metals need to be used - about 50% less. This will maintain cleaner emissions as well as reduce the consumption of precious metals - an effort of Nissan’s Green Program 2010.

Nissan Design Europe has unveiled this new NV200 small van concept that is set to make a real life debut at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show in October this year. It was a joint effort between Nissan Design Europe and Nissan Design Center Japan.

The NV200 small van concept is designed to have a customisable interior to suit different usages, but this concept was designed specifically to be used by a professional underwater photographer as an example of it’s versatility.

It has a pod which is divided into ‘wet’ and ‘dry’ storage zones for diving and camera equipment. The pod is latched inside the load area when the van is being driven. But when static, it can be slided out rearwards to allow access to the storage zones.

As the pod withdraws from the van, the area left behind is transformed into a mobile office. The front passenger seat swivels backwards on a curved rail to face a computer table, which drops down from the side of the van.

“A light commercial vehicle has a specific job to perform, but thats no reason to design a purely rational vehicle with no warmth. For NV200, function becomes the aesthetic. Our concept is a highly efficient tool but one with a human touch,” says Nissan’s senior vice president and chief creative officer Shiro Nakamura.

NISMO has a 300 unit limited run of a special edition tuned up Nissan 350Z called the NISMO Fairlady Z Type 380RS that has it’s engine displacement up to 3.8 liters from the original 3.5 liters of the VQ35HR engine.

This 3.8 liter engine is a detuned version of the 400 horsepower 380RS-Competition club racer 350Z, putting out a lower 350 horsepower at 7,200rpm and 397Nm at 4,800rpm, but still higher than the facelifted 350Z’s original 313 horsepower.

More photos after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of NISMO Fairlady Z Type 380RS - 3.8 liter 350Z