2005 Auto Shows
Nissan Celebrates New Design Center with Sport Concept Debut
By Mike Cervantes
Apr 2, 2005, 14:52

NDA Farmington Hils. Courtesy: Nissan North America

Apparently one US design studio isn’t enough for Nissan. Earlier this month, the Japanese automaker opened the doors of Nissan Design America – Farmington Hills, a $14 million 50,912 square foot expansion on the campus of Nissan Technical Center North America, Inc. – just outside of Detroit.

The studio’s staff will grow from 12 designers to more than 30 employees under the direction of Keisuke Otsuki. The NDA – Farmington Hills will work with Nissan Design America in La Jolla, CA, as well as with Nissan’s other design centers in Europe and Asia.

“Nissan Design America was created 25 years ago with a vision of former Nissan President Takashi Ishihara,” said Bruce Campbell, vice president, design, NDA.  “Their role was to feel the pulse of the North American market and respond with leading design.  This vision and role continues today. 

The first product of NDA – Farmington Hills was the AZEAL Concept that made its debut at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

“No one company is doing design like Nissan today,” said Shiro Nakamura senior vice president, design, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., and president, Nissan Design America.  “Nissan’s bold and thoughtful designs and unique processes were integral to Nissan’s revival and remain vital to its continued success.  This cross-global design expansion is proof of Nissan’s commitment to design.”

Courtesy: Nissan North America

Interestingly enough, Nissan unveiled their new Sport Concept in conjunction with the opening of NDA – Farmington Hills even though the hatchback was actually designed by Nissan Design in Atsugi, Japan. Wherever its birthplace, this little Nissan has created quite a bit of buzz. It’s the third in a line of compact Nissan hatches designed at gauging market interest in niche small vehicles.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize smaller cars are gaining in popularity in the America market. Chevy has invested heavily with the new Cobalt and Korean-sourced Aveo, Honda expects to launch a sub-Civic model within the next year or two, Mazda has carved out its own space with the sporty and quality 3, and we’ve all seen what Toyota has done with its new Scion lineup of compacts. With all of this development, Nissan has been anything but subtle about its desires to join the party.

“The story behind the development of the Sport Concept, AZEAL and Actic is that Nissan is thinking big about the small car segment,” said Jack Collins, vice president, product planning, Nissan North America, Inc. “With these three design explorations, we’re focusing on how we can bring Nissan’s heritage of innovation, sportiness and driving pleasure to a category of vehicles that traditionally lack design excitement and strong visual appeal.”

Courtesy: Nissan North America

One look at the Sport Concept and it’s pretty clear Nissan’s idea of design excitement is one patterned after Southern California’s import tuner scene. Imagine a three-door version of the Mazda3 with ultra-aggressive wheels and front and rear bumpers to get an idea of what we’re talking about. Overall the Sport Concept, dressed in Pearl White, features a clean and wide design that doesn’t look far from production. In fact, it closely resembles Nissan’s Japanese-market Tiida hatch both inside and out. Still, it’s a shame Nissan had to clutter up the look with cliché details that are typical of overblown concept cars.

Still, the Sport Concept is more than a few light years ahead of the tired Sentra sedan currently on sale and is much closer to reality than the AZEAL and Actic concepts. Plus, after about two decades of SUV and truck gluttony it’s nice to see a return to simple and affordable compacts.

“The Nissan Sport Concept is as close to performance art for the street as you can get – modern, cool, ready to run,” said Collins. “When it comes to the next wave of small car design, a SHIFT_ is about to be made. And Nissan is making it.”

Nissan Sport Concept Brings Nissan Sports Thinking To Small Car Segment in New York Auto Show Debut

Source: Nissan North America

The Nissan Sport Concept, which will make its public world debut at the 2005 New York International Auto Show, is the latest in a series of dynamic performance/youth concept vehicles following the Nissan Actic and Nissan AZEAL concepts. 

The Sport Concept is a dynamic three-door hatchback with a dramatic four-seat interior.  It offers the look and feel of a sports tuner car, yet is conceived as an affordable, attainable vehicle for buyers entering the new car market for the first time.

Courtesy: Nissan North America

“The story behind the development of the Sport Concept, AZEAL and Actic is that Nissan is thinking big about the small car segment,” said Jack Collins, vice president, product planning, Nissan North America, Inc.  “With these three design explorations, we’re focusing on how we can bring Nissan’s heritage of innovation, sportiness and driving pleasure to a category of vehicles that traditionally lack design excitement and strong visual appeal.”

“The Nissan Sport Concept, like the AZEAL and Actic before it, is first and foremost a showcase of future thinking, yet it is also a car that would be right at home in Nissan showrooms in the not-too-distant future,” said Collins.  “Nissan has a strong global lineup of compact enthusiast vehicles, including the March, Cube, Tiida, Note and Sentra SE-R, and, in the Nissan 350Z, one of the world’s most desirable sports cars.  The new Nissan Sport Concept fuses the best of both worlds.”

The exterior of the Nissan Sport Concept combines shapes and forms that are both geometrical and mechanical in feel, creating a sense of acceleration and kinetic energy.  The dynamic fender forms give the special Pearl White-painted body a look of pure, almost animal performance.  Its athletic roofline is marked by a large rear roof-mounted spoiler, while its bold surface composition, robust fender character lines, deep front spoiler and side sills, and large wheels and tires provide an animated, video game-like stance.

The body construction utilizes both metal and carbon-fiber composite components.  The 20-inch six-spoke aluminum-alloy wheels feature a machined and lustrous paint finish surface treatment.  The Sport Concept’s headlights and rear combination lights utilize small lamps with multi-layered reflectors.

AZEAL Concept. Courtesy: Nissan North America

“The Nissan Sport Concept may be small dimensionally but it is large in its dynamic energy – aggressive, highly functional and definitely street-wise,” said Collins.

The interior of the Sport Concept is designed to fit four adults comfortably, yet with an emphasis on the front two seats – with every element of the cockpit existing to enhance the vehicle’s engaging driving experience.

The deep, body-wrapping front bucket seats are covered in Wolf Gray leather with double-layered pearl suede inserts and feature formed head restraints and integrated 4-point seat belts.  The instrument panel includes integrated tachometer and gauges and a distinctive center cluster.  The Sport Concept interior also offers a three-spoke steering wheel and solid-appearance center console with the emergency brake lever integrated into the console lid.

Independent rear seats, also covered in a combination of leather and suede, offer true four-place seating with integrated 4-point seat belts.  Other rear passenger features include center console-mounted support grips and a large blue-cone speaker and woofer located in the rear parcel shelf. 

“The Nissan Sport Concept is as close to performance art for the street as you can get – modern, cool, ready to run,” said Collins.  “When it comes to the next wave of small car design, a SHIFT_ is about to be made.  And Nissan is making it.”

Actic Concept. Courtesy: Nissan North America

About the Nissan AZEAL and Nissan Actic

The Nissan AZEAL Coupe Concept, which debuted at the 2005 North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January 2005, is a fresh interpretation of the classic compact sports coupe - an affordable, performance-oriented entry-level coupe with the style and personality to match the lifestyles of its young, active target buyers.  The AZEAL design exercise is the first concept car created by Nissan Design America’s (NDA) new studio in Farmington Hills, Mich.

AZEAL features an aggressive body design with wide fender flares, short overhangs and a sharply sloped rear roofline with integrated active airfoil.  The interior combines a dark, industrial metallic instrument panel appearance contrasted by Wasabi Chartreuse fabric seats and an open greenhouse with glass-panel roof.  It rides on 19-inch wheels and tires.

The Nissan Actic, shown for the first time at the 2004 North American International Auto Show, is a "content rich" design exercise created by the original NDA studio in La Jolla, Calif.  It combines a simple, confident exterior form with flexible, modular seating and a unique “digital canvas” interior.

Actic makes a visionary statement from Nissan about how vehicle owners will approach technology in the future.  In place of traditional content-heavy vehicle control systems that become outdated immediately, Actic's handheld "key fob"-based Information Technology (IT) system allows the user to “grow” the interface with infinite flexibility and updateability. 

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