Nissan: 350z on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Nissan, Infiniti will each show a next-gen concept EV in Detroit

The chief designer for Nissan and Infiniti said Wednesday that both brands will debut concept electric vehicles at the 2019 North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January that will likely show off Nissan's next-generation electric drive systems and the evolution of the brands' EV design direction first hinted at with Infiniti's stunning Q Inspiration. Alfonso Albaisa, senior vice president of global design for Nissan, said the concepts will reflect a similar departure from standard vehicle proportions as the Q Inspiration. He would not say exactly what segment or segments the concepts would represent, but he dropped some hints at a couple possible powertrains for the concepts. Similar additional concepts will follow later in the year at the Tokyo Motor Show, he said. "The Q Inspiration kind of hinted at it and we avoided discussing too much about what's driving that car. Of course, we talked about VC-Turbo, which is also possible," he said in an interview with Autoblog. "But if you really look at the car, Q Insipiration shifted the cabin forward. It was the first one to break the [mold] of Infiniti. So how to still have this artistry and this sense of carrozzerie" (Italian for coachbuilding) "of Infiniti without kind of the stereotypical long hood and the cabin shifted back and the windshield has to go through the center of the front wheel, these golden rules." Infiniti debuted the Q Inspiration concept sedan in Detroit in January, with a swoopy, ghost-like design influenced by an archer shooting an arrow through the air, and innovative design features like an elongated cabin that expands interior space, a relative lack of chrome, and other features. It's powered by a compact variable compression turbocharged engine, which can change compression ratios on the fly to maximize efficiency and power, depending on the situation. But Albaisa said the two concepts for Detroit could feature Nissan's e-Power series hybrid technology, which has mostly featured in Japan, and which features small, isolated gasoline engines that exist only to charge the batteries, not drive the wheels. They will also feature a new generation of battery packs, which he calls a "magic carpet." "It's getting denser, it's getting thinner, the cars are able to get a little bit bigger, more space, we can really do much more," he said.

Roller coaster or racecar, which pulls more Gs?

Looking for a thrill? You're not the only one. You'll find kindred spirits at airfields going up for a skydive, atop bridges and towers with bungees attached to their feet and standing in line for roller coasters at the local amusement park. But you'll also find them in the paddock at the racing circuit.
So what's the commonality? G-force. It's like gravity, only in each of these cases, it's experienced by human invention. But which activity subjects your body to the greatest amount of g-force? That's what Nissan set to find out.
Before putting them back in the cockpit, Nismo sent out two of its young hot-shoes - Jann Mardenborough and Mark Shulzhitskiy - to an amusement park in the UK with a camera and a g-force meter to find out if any of the coasters could produce as much lateral gravitational force as an LMP2 racing car. See what they found in the pair of videos, below.

Nissan Resonance Concept gives glimpse of next Murano

The Nissan Resonance Concept has bowed at the 2013 Detroit Auto Show, giving the world a glimpse at the company's future design direction for crossovers. Specifically, the concept heralds what the next-generation Murano may look like once it touches down. Nissan has already confirmed the successor to the big crossover's throne will be produced in Mississippi for the first time. With a "floating" roof and dynamic head lamp arrays, the Resonance boasts a far more athletic appearance than the snub-nosed current generation. Inside, designers worked up a cockpit aimed at conveying what "the future of first-class space travel might be."
Nissan isn't saying what the upcoming Murano will have under the hood, but the Resonance boasts an all-wheel-drive hybrid powertrain with a small-displacement internal combustion engine and an electric motor. A lithium-ion battery delivers power while a CVT takes care of putting power to the wheels. Take a look at the full press release below for more information.