Nissan Qazana
Thursday, April 8th, 2010 |The Nissan Qazana makes its first ever appearance at the Geneva Motor Show today. The Qazana concept is an intelligent, all-wheel drive crossover which is masculine, agile, lean, and designed for the tough city streets. Our team at Nissan Design Europe in London realised this image with the motif of a modern day beach buggy and four-seat motor-bike,” explains Atsushi Maeda, Studio Chief Designer, Nissan Design Europe.
According to Matt Weaver, project lead designer at NDE, Qazana was designed to be sophisticated but fun. By approaching the small car market from a totally different direction, Qazana invigorates, stimulates and rejuvenates the traditional town runabout.
Compact overall dimensions (4060mm in length, 1570mm tall, 1780 wide and a wheelbase of 2530mm) mean Qazana would be ideally suited to the urban environment. By mixing SUV and sports car styling cues, NDE’s design team has created a highly individual Crossover quite unlike anything else on the road. The tall stance, truncated rear styling and short front and rear overhangs underscore its feeling of robustness and strength, but the low roof line, assertive side window graphic and broad shoulders hint at a sporting ability absent in traditional all-wheel drives.
At the same time, rounded elements – notably the wheel arches and bonnet – evoke a friendly ambiance and provide a link with existing Nissan Crossovers. Indeed, Qazana has the signature Crossover design detail in the rising window line at the rear, also found on Murano and Qashqai.
Says Weaver: “Qazana follows in Qashqai’s wheel tracks by challenging convention. Externally Qazana adds a number of existing Nissan design cues – including a variation on the ‘boomerang’ rear light theme from 370Z – to a highly distinctive shape that’s unlike anything else in the company’s current design portfolio.”
Echoing a style first seen on Mixim, Nissan’s high performance electric coupé concept shown at the 2007 Frankfurt Show, the glasshouse resembles a crash helmet visor.
Nissan Qazana
