Wards Automotive has a number of recent articles about Nissan. Below this article in this thread is another article. Also, check out the first and 11th posts on this other thread:
http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=444576

Nissan Chief Designer Reveals New Direction
By Herb Shuldiner -- WardsAuto.com, Dec 30 2005
- The auto maker plans to launch a new segment that will “blur the lines between cars and trucks,” chief designer Shiro Nakamura says.
- Nissan seeks both innovation and traditional designs, such as Infiniti G35.

NEW YORK – A group of Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. designers and engineers are exploring the creation of a vehicle for a new segment that combines the elements of a cross/utility vehicle and a minivan. So says Shiro Nakamura, Nissan senior vice president-design at a design forum here.

“In the next couple of years, we're going to bring out a new segment,” he says. “We have the freedom for designers and engineers to blur the line between cars and trucks. At the same time, we want to pursue traditional designs, such as the Infiniti G35,” Nakamura adds.

Nissan designers are tasked with creating vehicles appropriate to the market they serve, Nakamura tells Ward's. “We don't have global cars, except in the sports car and luxury segments,” he says.

He says 90% of Maxima, Altima and Sentra sales take place in the U.S. The physical size of these models is too big for Japan and Europe, he says, noting fullsize pickup trucks and SUVs are North American-specific designs.

“The 3-box sedan is not wanted in Japan,” Nakamura says, adding the Japanese prefer smaller cars.

Nissan's largest car in Japan and Europe is the Skyline. The Micra also is popular in these markets but is not offered in the U.S. because it is too small. But luxury models such as the G35 and sports cars such as the Nissan 350Z appeal to buyers in all markets.

“Premium-car buyers have similar lifestyles in all markets,” Nakamura says.”

However, when it comes to mass-produced vehicles, there are pronounced differences in what consumers in different markets expect. Japanese buyers focus more on the interior styling of cars, for example.

“Those customers are more interested in entertainment systems,” Nakamura says. The Japanese also covet more static exteriors than European buyers because they do not seek sleek vehicles, except in sports cars.

Nakamura says that is why cube designs are popular in Japan. “The customers are interested in space efficiency rather than stylishness,” he says.

In Europe, Nissan strives for designs that produce lower drag coefficients to appeal to customers who want to drive faster and appreciate cars that are more aerodynamic.

Both European and American buyers want dynamic-looking cars. U.S. customers also want mirrored exteriors that reflect passing scenery. “That's not important in Japan,” he says.

Nissan's designers in the U.S. and Japan collaborate on vehicles such as fullsize pickups and SUVs. Nakamura says he personally spent a month touring the U.S. to observe how and where such vehicles are used.

“I observed customers in Home Depot parking lots,” he says. “I also visited owners of fullsize trucks in their homes to find out what their frustrations were.”

It is important to learn these things at the very beginning of the design process, he says. That kind of research led to his design of a Titan door that opens 180 degrees.

“Design is not just for looks,” he says. “We look for function and shape, and balance those things,” Nakamura says. “Design, alone, is not what we're looking for.”

Which is why Nissan designers collaborate with manufacturing engineers during the creative process.

“We don't want the engineers to say we can't make it,” Nakamura says. “We challenge them to create the shapes and come back with new solutions to design problems.”

Nakamura also reveals that parts reduction plays an important role in the design process. “We want to achieve esthetics and lower cost, together,” he says.
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Nissan Urge Concept Designed with Gamers in Mind
By Christie Schweinsberg -- WardsAuto.com, Dec 28 2005

The Urge has a built-in Xbox 360 gaming system with a display that folds down from the rearview mirror and steering wheel/pedal controls that double as game controls.

Nissan North America Inc. says its Urge concept sports car, debuting at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit next month, was inspired by those who love video games.

Nissan Design America Inc. in La Jolla, CA, which designed the Urge, conducted an online survey, polling approximately 2,000 “gamers” to find out what they wanted in a car.

Not surprisingly, most of the young, primarily male, respondents to our survey said that they want a small, fun-to-drive sports car that can incorporate the technology products that they use on a daily basis, such as cell phones, MP3 players and game consoles,” Bruce Campbell, NDA vice president-design, says in a statement.

“We also learned that these young adults are highly social. They're looking for vehicles with the flexibility to take along a couple of friends. They also don't want a car to dominate their social lives or budgets, so affordability is a definite issue.”

The rear-wheel-drive, 3-seat vehicle has an aluminum “cage” frame. An aluminum center structure spans the length of the engine bay to the interior center console and a perforated metal mesh-covered silicone foam is used to cover the instrument panel.

The exterior body panels are crafted of recycled aluminum and composites. A glass hood shows off the small-displacement, high-revving engine.

Other standout design features include triangular A-pillars; 4-bar hinge scissor doors; see-through door panel cutouts and visible passenger-side airbag; a canvas top that collapses for easy storage; F1-style steering wheel; and five customizable driver-information screens for navigation, audio, suspension and performance tuning, and heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems.

In a nod to the gamers that inspired it, the Urge has a built-in Xbox 360 gaming system with a display that folds down from the rearview mirror and steering wheel/pedal controls that double as game controls.

“The Echo Boomer generation, born between roughly 1976 and 1996, has grown up on video games,” Campbell says. “The ability to park the car and activate the game system adds another dimension of entertainment beyond the pure driving pleasure of the Urge.”

Also, the driver's cell phone starts the car, acting as an Intelligent Key.

The Urge has a wheelbase of 104.3 ins. (264.9 cm), identical to Nissan's 350Z sports car, but at 156.6 ins. (397.8 cm) in length, it is some 16 ins. (40.6 cm) shorter than the Z. The engine is mated to a sequential 6-speed “motorcycle-style” manual transmission.

Wheels are 9-spoke aluminum alloy and tires are 19 ins. up front and 20 ins. in the rear. The Urge sports the 350Z's Brembo brakes. The exterior color is “mirror crystal.”

If it were put into mass production, the Urge would be priced about $20,000, dictating “a more realistic approach to the parts list than say our 350Z or GT-Proto,” Campbell says. “It's a sports car for first-time car buyers. The Zs and GT-Rs will come later in the buyers' lives.”

Nissan will show the Urge at its press conference on Jan. 9.

 

That would be different to say the least.

 

wow wondere what that will do to the prices of the cars though