This is the first time that we've seen the Nissan Nuvu, the company's electric competitor to the Toyota iQ.
The 2+1 city car concept, which has just been unveiled at the Paris motor show, is just three metres long and has solar panels in its glass roof to charge the batteries and power its electric motor.
“It’s light, clean and easy to drive. It is practical and a sensible size, yet it also embodies an element of fun," said Nissan's product strategy boss, Francois Bancon.
The Nissan Nuvu has one less seat than the Toyota iQ, but Nissan believes that customers would want more dedicated luggage capacity. There's enough space "for a typical supermarket or shopping expedition".
The most important difference between the Nissan Nuvu and the Toyota iQ - both three metres long with two-metre wheelbases - is in height and width. Nissan has opted for greater height (1700mm, compared with about 1500mm for the iQ), whereas Toyota has gone for greater width and track. The Nissan Nuvu is 1550mm wide, whereas the Toyota is 1680mm, almost the same width as the cars from the segment above.
Although the Nuvu is a concept and not the small electric city car that Nissan is planning to launch in Japan and the US in 2010, its proportions give us a good idea where Nissan is heading in this sector.
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