Nissan North America is bringing a car smaller than the Sentra to its U.S. lineup within the next two years. Its latest concept for such as car draws a bead on Toyotas Scion lineup.
Nissans Sport Concept hatchback is marked by wide body flares over 20-inch wheels, a rear spoiler and a sloping, angled hood. The concept was shown Thursday night at Nissans new design studio in suburban Detroit -- even though the vehicle was created at the automakers design studio in Atsugi, Japan. The concept gets wide exposure next week during the New York auto show.
The concept, which has some resemblance to the Nissan Tiida sedan sold in Japan, is based on the automakers B-segment platform. Yet Nissan says it was designed to comfortably fit four passengers.
The concept measures 171.3 inches from bumper to bumper. That puts it within a couple of inches of the Scion tC coupe, and 6 inches shorter than the current Sentra. But the concepts 102.4-inch wheelbase tops the Sentras wheelbase by nearly 3 inches.
Inside, each passenger gets their own seat with large side bolsters, raised center section in the seat bottom and integrated, four-point seatbelts. The stereo system includes a large speaker and subwoofer mounted in the rear parcel shelf.
The Sport Concept is the third that Nissan has shown over the past 18 months offering different looks at injecting some style to its small-car lineup. The earlier concepts were the wagon-like Actic and the sporty Azeal coupe.
-Autoweek
