It’s a brave man
who can come out with barrels blazing and say that he thinks buyers of
the Scion FR-S or Subaru BRZ are having a ‘midlife crisis’. That’s
exactly what Nissan Executive Vice President Andy Palmer said recently
when referring to two of the hottest, most affordable sports cars to
venture forth from Japan in a decade. So can Nissan do any better? It
thinks so. “You’ll see our answer to the midlife crisis at the Tokyo
Motor Show. Except it won’t be for a midlife crisis,” added Palmer.
“It’ll be aimed at young and middle aged types alike.”
In a marketplace where Generation Z is losing
interest in cars and car culture, Nissan is trying to reignite some
interest and passion back into motoring with a new two door, rear wheel
drive concept car, the IDx.
Nissan designers
say that customer paradigms are changing significantly, warranting
change. Trying to appeal to digital natives who value IT and social
media networks as the new communication tools of the 21st Century is the
key, says one designer.
The car has to be stylish, offer the right
combination of social networking tools including Bluetooth, internet and
navigation connectivity and drive well. But Nissan’s product planners
realized that these features were not enough to create a car that
catches the eye as well as the heart.
So Nissan decided to delve back into its rich
heritage of sports cars and race cars to find inspiration. As chief
designer Satoru Tai says, “we are talking about models like the Datsun
1600, Skyline and Laurel from the 1960s and 70s. That is where we
sourced our inspiration. We conceived the IDx through direct interaction
with Generation Z who seek a compact, minimalistic sedan-shaped coupe.”
Boasting a low and wide stance, Tai tells us that the IDx is actually a
little shorter in wheelbase than the FR-S and BRZ so colourfully
described by Palmer.
A look at the IDx’s
silhouette reveals these design slants. As the former owner of a Datsun
1600, this writer can definitely see some 1600 influence in the IDx’s
side profile. And while this design is fresh and new but with retro
hints for young buyers, the overall design seems all too familiar yet
appealing for buyers in their 40s who grew up watching 1600s and
Skylines appear on the roads.
Tai went on to say that one other aspect of this
concept that we thought important for young and mid-aged buyers alike
would be a rear-wheel drive platform. Nissan was being tight-lipped
about the powertrain, but one engineer suggested that a naturally
aspirated 1.6 liter engine generating around 140-150hp would most
probably find its way into the IDx’s engine bay.
To pluck at the heartstrings of all those who
long for the “new,” but with a touch of nostalgia, Nissan also unveiled
an IDx Nismo version draped in the company’s traditional racing colors
and featuring bigger wheels, along with racier body styling and interior
appointments.
There was a time
when customer surveys and interaction with the public were regarded as
dangerous. "The customer doesn't know what he wants--we have to tell
him!" Nissan believes that modern social media connections render that
conventional wisdom obsolete, and the IDx concepts are proffered as
proof. They were designed from their inception in interactive
collaboration with a group of 100 Gen-Z teenagers. They were not random
teens, but car-loving ones, as evidenced by their encouragement of
design themes evocative of the Datsun 510 (I don't know a teen that
could pick a "Dime" out of a lineup). They reportedly identified the 510
as an icon of the brand, especially when adorned with Peter Brock
racing stripes.
The other key attributes demanded by this group
were comprehensive connectivity (naturally) and a high degree of
customization. Toward that end, the car features a spaceframe
architecture with lightweight body panels that can be swapped for
different looks. Different headlamp designs are plug-and-play
interchangeable.
While the teens apparently did not demand rear
wheel drive, that's what Palmer sees when he looks at the IDx, and he
asserts it is easily buildable on modified existing architecture, though
he declined to specify. The auto show stand had a display case showing
die-cast models of the IDx in two sizes, if that can be interpreted as
an intent to render 1:1 scale versions. Palmer declined to confirm any
production plans, other than to say that if green-lighted today it would
be three to four years out. Start the letter-writing campaign today.
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