Nissan Mixim coming to Sydney
August 4, 2008 by Alborz Fallah
This year’s Australian International Motor Show is only a few months away and Nissan has already announced plans to bring the Mixim down under.
Nissan’s all-electric car is designed to appeal to young people, in times when, according to Nissan, young people have fallen out of love with ‘the car’.
If Nissan believes young people have fallen out of love with ‘the car’, we suspect no one at the company has talked to any 20-50 year old males about the new GT-R.
Either way, the Mixim is suppose to be a cool Prius, one which is good for the environment but doesn’t bore you to tears either. The company says the car is designed in a dramatic, slightly ’sinister’ body.
“If the motor industry is going to survive beyond the next few years, we are going to have to work hard to attract future generations of drivers – people who currently find it difficult to love the car,” says Nissan’s global head of design, Shiro Nakamura.
From the front the wrap-around windscreen is inspired by crash helmet visor while twin air intakes to the rear of the doors and the LED driving lights are inspired by traditional diamond shapes.
The interior is also a little radical, it’s a three-plus-one seating arrangement with the driver taking a “command and control” position behind the steering wheel, which according to the Japanese giant is meant to have a familiar feel to a computer race game controller. Let’s not forget, Nissan is proud to say the Mixim was designed by a team with an average age of just 25.
Nice concept, but will it actually equate into a real car? Or will it be dumbed-down to an unlovable boring mass produced car? That is yet to be seen, however Nissan says it will begin selling an all-electric passenger car in Japan and United States from 2010, and Mixim is a good indicator of what we should expect.
“Mixim can be seen as more than a show car – it’s a serious statement of intent,” says the company’s head of Exploratory and Advance Planning Department, Francois Bancon.
The concept car is powered by two electric motors, one for the front and one for the rear, essentially making the car the car all-wheel drive. Another big differences to the current generation Toyota Prius is the use of lithium-ion (Li-Ion) batteries instead of bulky cylindrical cells (Toyota is expected to switch to Li-Ion’s next year).
Additionally, the electric motors used in the Mixim are both a power source and generator in one compact package.
“Mixim should tick all the right boxes as far as the younger generation is concerned. It is powered by an advanced, powerful, yet environmentally friendly electric motor and is compact enough to fit into their urban world,” Mr Bancon said.
The Australian International Motor Show will commence at the Darling Habour Exhibition centre in Sydney from October 9-19. Check back frequently for more information on cars at the show.
More on the Mixim below:
Print it: 
That looks even worse than the Micra, which is hideous.
Yup, simple rule here. If you want people to warm to an electric car….it has to look like a car not a toy!!!
But I love what the guys are doing at http://www.zeva.com.au, now were talking business :)
Ugly POS!
I dont really mind the Micra but this really is an undesirable POS. I dont want one and never will.
WTF – its a kids transformer toy. Perhaps thats what the young nobbers for the future. Ugly but hey its only a concept.
It’s great to see an exciting new concept like this. It might be too much for most car fans (see previous posts to this article). Most car fans became car fans by liking what has already been produced. This is almost “beyond car”.
Arg