Nissan Design Europe (NDE), based in London, is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a sporty urban electric concept car called Nissan Concept 20-23. Unveiled by Makoto Uchida, Nissan’s President & CEO, today, the concept car’s name reflects 20 years of NDE’s position in the heart of London, as well as the company’s traditional number 2 (ni) 3 (san) and the current year.
It also continues a long Nissan tradition of bringing eye-catching playfulness to the world of hatchbacks and city cars. With the heritage of Nissan’s so-called Pike cars, such as the Be-1, Pao, Figaro and S-Cargo, the Concept 20-23 brings a 21st century twist to this small-car tradition.
“The young team here at NDE was given a simple brief – with no constraints: design a fun electric city car that you’d like to drive every day in London. The Concept 20-23 that they designed is a compact hatchback which is strongly influenced by the online racing world. I love the story it tells about how the worlds of modern city living, online gaming and zero emissions mobility intersect,” said Alfonso Albaisa, Nissan’s Senior Vice-President for Global Design.
The modern twist on this small car’s playfulness reflects both the world of online racing and Nissan’s participation in Formula E. The Concept 20-23’s basic 3-door hatchback bodystyle features extreme aerodynamic addenda front and rear, with deep skirts which direct the airflow away from the front of the car, through apertures to cool the brakes and out through vents just behind the front wheels.
The nose of the car consists of a flat plane from which angles up to the top of the bonnet, giving the front an unexpectedly clean surface. This is where the front headlights are positioned, with their distinctive appearance consisting of a thin upper and lower semi-circle and enhanced by a sharp beam, thanks to LED technology.
The turn signals are part of the same semi-circle LED units. They give the front of the Concept 20-23 a friendly appearance, within the complex shapes which govern the airflow.
From the side, the car’s muscularity comes from extended wheel arches which shroud large wheels with low profile tyres. The top side of the wheelarches front and rear feature vented louvres to reduce the pressure that can create air resistance in the wheel bay.
The curvature of the wheel arches finish abruptly at the level of the lower door where angular intersections frame the air outlet behind the front wheel. And the same angular slits on the rear wheel arches allow the airflow to cool the rear brakes. The extended skirts hug the body side on the lower portion of the car.
At the rear, a large single-piece spoiler emerges harmoniously from the roof rail, with endplates which curve from the near vertical close to the C-pillar over to the angled horizontal element which generates the downforce. Rear visibility isn’t compromised by the rear spoiler, avoiding a common problem that sportscars with rear spoilers face.
A thin air intake is integrated into the car’s roof where it meets the windscreen header, giving ventilation to the occupants.
The exterior grey paint has a textured finish, giving the impression of being formed from a single piece of metal, reflecting the gritty environment it was designed to inhabit. The company number – 23 – features on the car’s rear three-quarters.
While the Concept 20-23 car model is primary an exterior model only, the team of interior designers showed some of their ideas that reflect the extremely sporty nature of the exterior. First of all, entry is by two scissors doors which hinge upwards from the base of the A-pillar.
A brace bar runs across the door openings covered in foam padding to protect elbows, requiring the driver and passenger to step over it in order to reach their seats. The two deep bucket seats offer tight support, but not at the expense of comfort. They are trimmed in a near-white finish, with a large head-support reminiscent of racing cars.
Once in position, the driver is greeted by a long extended steering column which culminates in a rectangular sports steering wheel festooned with multiple controls and adjustments. Paddles to adjust the electric powertrain performance and additional switches are within fingertip reach behind the wheel.
The steering column is supported by a carbon-fibre mount which is itself bolted into position from the base of the large, open aperture which makes up the centre console. Between the two occupants, two metal beams hold the centre console in position and are bolted to the “spine” of the car that appears from the floor.
The interior is a futuristic interpretation of a racing car’s bare functionality. with just a couple of screens displaying vital information with minimal distractions – a reflection of where real racing cars – such as Nissan’s Formula E entrant – inspire online racing simulator set-ups.
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