The Nissan Gripz Concept is something that it’s maker reckons will blend “the ability and practicality of a compact crossover with the excitement and performance of a sports car”. Conceived by designers in Europe and Japan, the Nissan Gripz Concept has the silhouette of a sports car with a raised ride height, giving it a dual personality.
The Gripz Concept pays homage to one of Nissan’s first ‘crossovers’ – the Safari Rally-winning Nissan 240Z – a high riding sports car from the 1970s that tackled the Baja Peninsula, the open plains of Kenya, Uganda and present day Tanzania. With the Gripz Concept, Nissan wants to prove that sports cars don’t necessarily have to be low slung to be fun to drive.
The Nissan Gripz Concept is equipped with an EV technology based Series hybrid system ‘Pure Drive e-Power’, with an efficient petrol engine is used to power the electric motor found in the Nissan LEAF. The Nissan Gripz Concept features cues from Nissan’s new ‘emotional geometry’ design language, which explains the V-motion grille, boomerang lamps front and rear, a floating roof and a kicked-up C pillar.
“Nissan pioneered the idea of the compact crossover, and this is reflected in the enormous popularity of Qashqai and Juke and the resulting growth of the market segment as other manufacturers play catch-up.While the Nissan Gripz Concept is not seen as a direct replacement for either of those two iconic vehicles, it does show the extremes to which the compact crossover can be pushed,”said Shiro Nakamura, Senior Vice President and Chief Creative Officer.
Taking the high-tech simplicity of a racing bicycle as inspiration, the concept features a carbon frame over which the body panels are placed, like armoured cladding. The rest of the design carries exposed carbon elements, which accentuate features such as the boomerang-shape given to the leading edge of the front door structure.
The Gripz has four doors – with deep dihedral front doors that swing out and up when opened, and a pair of rear-hinged half-doors behind. There is no B-pillar, allowing easy access to the 2+2 interior. The front end is dominated by Nissan’s V-motion grille, mounted low and framed by rectangular lamps housing high and low beams.
Embedded in the lamps are forward-facing cameras that record every journey, while boomerang-shaped running lights sit above the lamps, on top of the front fenders and denote the demarcation line between the matt-black bonnet and the red-orange main body colour.
More matt-black can be found on the extended wheel arches, the pinched and indented triangular sill – raised to increase ground clearance – and the A-pillar leading to the floating roof. The roof features a central glazed panel with bullet grey-coloured composite panels on either side over the seating areas.
Thee rear lamps mirror the boomerang shape of the front running lights and wrap themselves around the rear three quarters of the car. At the rear, a dramatic truncated matt-black Kamm tail gives the concept a ‘codatronca’ effect while beneath the tailgate sits a pair of chromed trapezoidal exhaust pipes.
The three-spoke 22-inch wheels are also inspired by racing bicycles – lightweight yet strong wearing comparatively thin high-pressure tyres, especially constructed for the concept by Bridgestone. Red and white graphics found on the sidewalls are replicated on the car’s steering wheel.
The interiors feature a mix of matt-grey and the deep red-orange colours, undelining the car’s Tour de France inspiration with exposed tubes, moulded bucket seats and layered features echoing the cladding effect found on the exterior.
The seats and centre console are directly inspired by bicycles, as are the door pulls that are shaped like saddles from a racing bike. The three-spoke steering wheel, meanwhile, replicates the car’s road wheels, right down to the special graphics found on the tyre sidewalls. Like the Nissan Sway Concept and recent production cars, the Nissan Gripz Concept has a ‘Gliding Wing’instrument panel.
