The Nissan Gripz Concept has been revealed at the Frankfurt Motor Show as a blend of Nissan Z and crossover, complete with scissor doors and huge alloys.
Nissan has been teasing the Gripz concept over the last week, and we decided it would be a crossover take on Nissan’s Z Car history, seeking to blend the appeal of a crossover with the sportiness and performance of a Z car. And that’s exactly what it is.
Taking cues from Nissan’s 240Z – especially its desert racers – the Gripz is a high-riding 2+2 crossover promising a car that can do the urban commute in the week and turn its hand to fun and frolics at the weekend with proper performance and dynamics and the ability to tackle rough terrain too.
Shorter than a Juke – but wider and lower – the Gripz comes with a pair of scissor doors and huge 22″ alloys to make its statement of intent, clearly none of which would make production but do make the Gripz look a lot b older than it otherwise would.
Inside, the Gripz is a Nissan sports car, but Nissan has created seats and centre console influenced by racing bikes.
Power for the Gripz comes from a Nissan electric motor with a range-extender engine, but if the Gripz is heading for production it’s certain there will be normal – and more powerful – powertrains on offer.
Shiro Nakamura, Nissan VP, said:
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.
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