Will the Nissan Concept 20-23 come to Malaysia? Not looking like that, I hope
After the recent Gran Turismo movie, I felt like Nissan was absolutely on a high. The movie was highly successful, after all, and the Nissan GT-R R35 was very prominently featured but instead of doing something sport related, Nissan decided to make a daily driver for the streets concept. Sadly, I think they missed the mark, what say you?
The Nissan Concept 20-23 was designed by a team including some of the younger members of the Nissan Design Europe (NDE) team, with the idea of a car with no constraints, which they would like to drive on the streets of the city where they work. However, it kind of looks like an armoured Juke electric vehicle (EV) but even uglier.
Moreover, I’m not trying to be mean or anything like that but the majority of people would agree that while Nissan can design some truly breathtaking cars, the Juke was one of the ugliest vehicles to ever assault our eyes on the road. With hints from other carmakers as well, this whole car just looks… wrong.
The Concept 20-23 name reflects 20 years of the NDE in London, as well as the company’s traditional number 2 (ni) 3 (san) and the current year. It also continues a long Nissan tradition of bringing “eye-catching playfulness” to the world of hatchbacks and city cars.
On top of that, the front headlights have a distinctive appearance consisting of a thin upper and lower semi-circle and enhanced by a sharp beam thanks to LED technology. The turn signal is part of the same semi-circle LED unit and this particularly irks me as it looks too similar to the juke as well as a certain British small car brand.
The rear of the Nissan Concept 20-23 is no better with its large single-piece spoiler with end plates which curve from the near vertical close to the c-pillar over to the angled horizontal element which generates more down force. Why one would need a wing this big for a city car is beyond me but I’m scared to ask at this point.
The exterior grey paint of the Nissan Concept 20-23 has a textured finish, giving the impression of being hewn from a single piece of metal, reflecting the gritty environment it was designed to inhabit. This is actually the only thing I like about this monstrosity of a car. Sorry Nissan, I love the brand but this car is just a mistake.
While the Concept 20-23 car model is an exterior model only, the team of interior designers created an interior that reflects the “sporty” nature of the exterior but the icing on the cake for me is the scissor-doors. Honestly, at this point, I feel the whole car is just 1 big identity crisis and I hope Nissan does not turn this car into a reality.
