Nissan NV200: the lowdown
Nissan loves a barmy concept car (remember the Bevel, showcased at Detroit for older bob-a-jobbing builders?). And motor shows don’t come much nuttier than Tokyo’s bi-annual celebration of technical innovation and limit-pushing design. So it seems natural that the Japanese car maker has saved up a special treat for its domestic show this October. It has just released teaser info on the NV200 van. Designed at its European design base in Paddington, London, the concept explores the use of space in commercial vehicles. Take a deep breath: yes, this concept is aimed at an extremely narrow demographic niche – car buyers who happen to be underwater photographers. So the NV200’s boot is in fact a removable pod that swivels to the back of the van, leaving room for a mobile office; the front-row seats rotate 180deg to face backwards and a computer desk for digital editing drops down from the side of the van. There are storage areas for wet and dry items, naturally. Sounds like just the sort of vehicle CAR Online’s scoop photographers could do with on their riskier assignments.
Tokyo is traditionally chock-full of quirky concepts like the NV200, and we shouldn’t scoff at them. Wacky ideas beloved of the Japanese car makers can produce some fresh thinking, and some of it trickles down to production reality. CAR Online will have a reporting team live in Tokyo and we’ll be bringing you the latest on cars as diverse as the new Nissan GT-R, Toyota’s new supercar and the Fiat 500 Abarth.