On the New York Worldwide Auto Present, we had a possibility to talk with Nissan’s Senior Vice President for World Design, Alfonso Albaisa, about a wide range of issues associated to automobile design. And naturally it targeted on Nissan, and he shared a variety of issues which have us excited to see the place Nissan is headed over the subsequent a number of years. Notably, it looks like Nissan could buck a few developments in automobile design of the previous couple of many years.
One of many first matters we lined was that of company design language. Many, many automakers have leaned closely on one primary design thought utilized to many dimensions and shapes of car by means of the lineup. Nissan was amongst them, most famously (or infamously, relying in your perspective) with its V-Movement grille. Definitely there could be advantages, similar to creating robust model recognition. And if it is a good look, the entire line can profit. However it could additionally hold some fashions from standing out, and will even be awkward on some automobiles. For these causes and extra, Albaisa mentioned Nissan will probably be shifting away from a strict company design template.
“There is no longer a face of Nissan,” he mentioned.
He talked about how having that strict styling edict does not meet the wants of various consumers, giving the instance of how a Frontier purchaser is not essentially on the lookout for a Z, or vice versa. As such, there is no must make them look considerably like one another. The Kicks is an early instance of letting fashions be extra differentiated, what with its distinctive grille, in addition to lighting entrance and rear. In case you are curious, Albaisa famous that the brand new Kicks takes plenty of inspiration from American soccer gear and athletic sneakers. The low, rounded grille with fats bars is predicated on a helmet, and the broad haunches come from shoulder pads. There’s geometric detailing within the decrease cladding that is primarily based on athletic sneakers.
Albaisa additionally famous that the company design language mannequin has the problem of immediately courting a lineup. When the brand new language is adopted, it solely comes out on a model-by-model foundation. So you have got one tremendous new automobile, and the remainder of the lineup is all of the sudden previous.
Albaisa additional talked about how he feels that the height of Nissan design was again within the early Nineteen Nineties when he first began on the firm. He mentioned he “fell in love with the diversity” of Nissan’s designs. Within the many years which have adopted, he mentioned Nissan “hasn’t leveraged that enough.”
However that is not all that he cherished about that point for Nissan. We talked a bit concerning the Pike Manufacturing unit automobiles, the retro-inspired small automobile fashions together with the Be-1, Pao, Figaro and S-Cargo. He recalled seeing the Figaro, which is extraordinarily retro-looking with plenty of chrome, round lights and bakelite-style switchgear, and being wowed by it. He referred to those kinds of automobiles, in addition to different distinctive Nissans just like the Dice, as being “purely charming cars”; autos that do not have to look imply, aggressive and smooth.
And that is the opposite half that he, and positively we, are enthusiastic about: Albaisa needs extra of those “charming” automobiles. He pointed significantly to a car that may be noticed in a teaser video (which additionally appears to tease a brand new Xterra) above with massive spherical headlights. We’re fairly positive it is a new technology of Nissan Micra, which the model teased some time in the past. Albaisa hinted that will probably be utilizing the identical EV platform because the Renault 5. He would not say whether or not will probably be supplied in America, and for the reason that Micra hasn’t been offered right here, we’re not holding our breaths, which is a little bit unhappy, as a result of it does look lovely. Canada would possibly at the very least get it, since they acquired a newer technology.
Regardless, all this has us excited for future Nissans. It seems like we’ll be seeing rather more distinctive designs that ought to assist the model’s autos stand out way over they at the moment do.