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Nissan Roadster Concept to Debut at Detroit Auto Show

Is Nissan Looking to Bring a Low-Priced Roadster to Market?

Nissan introduced an interesting conceptual sports car at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit last year, named Azeal, which had a lot of media abuzz with excitement, speculating that a sporty subcompact coupe would soon join a new subcompact hatchback based off the next-generation Micra, and that both were headed for North America.

While the hatchback has been confirmed as the Versa, based off of the Japan-market Tiida, no confirmation has been made regarding a sport model. Could the URGE be it? No doubt, the prognosticators will get fired up when Nissans
While Nissans Azeal, shown at last years Detroit auto show, unitially created some media buzz about a future compact sport coupe, so far nothing has materialized. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, American Auto Press)
next sports model hits Cobo Hall in the second week of January, and there may be reason for theyre excitement.

Currently, Nissan only has one sports car, the 350Z, and its high price puts it out of reach of potential Mazda MX-5, Pontiac Solstice customers. The latter cars sales have shown that there is indeed a place for low end roadsters. But why such excitement in a category
Currently, Nissan only has one sports car, the 350Z, and its high price puts it out of reach of potential Mazda MX-5, Pontiac Solstice customers. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, American Auto Press)
which has long been solely owned by the little Mazda? After all, for years Toyota has battled it out against the Miata with its mid-engine MR2 roadster, but its few takers caused other automakers to question the entire roadster market segment. Then the Solstice arrives, and due to attractive styling, excellent road manners and sufficient power, Pontiac dealers cant keep up with demand. What seems to have dogged Toyota all these years might seem obvious in hindsight, styling matters even more in the fickle roadster market than it does among midsize sedan buyers.
Where the Mazda
Due to attractive styling, excellent road manners and sufficient power, Pontiac dealers cant keep up with the demand for Solstice. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, American Auto Press)
has always been attractive, the MR2 roadster has long been a bit frumpy and its 140-horsepower 1.8-liter four-cylinder was somewhat underpowered compared to the souped up Mazdaspeed version of its roadster, at least. The new Solstice is more powerful yet, and upcoming supercharged GXP is expected to be well over 200-horsepower. A new Saturn roadster is on the way too, dubbed SKY, and it will offer edgier, although just as attractive styling than the Solstice, plus all the performance benefits of the Pontiac version.

Is there room for a small Nissan roadster? A mini-Z? There probably is, especially if it follows the formula set out by Mazda and GM: attractive styling, agile handling and sufficient power, all for about $20K.

Other than not being a true roadster, being that the
The URGEs design, at least when looking at the rendering, appears very interesting, due to what Nissan calls "motorcycle-inspired styling". (Photo: Nissan North America)
concept appears to feature a targa-like T-bar roof, the URGE would probably be able to offer the latter three criteria, as Nissan has long built cars that manage curves well, power has rarely been problematic in its four-cylinder models, and it will be powered by a high-revving, small-displacement four mated to a six-speed manual gearbox. Its design, at least when looking at the rendering, appears very interesting, due to what Nissan calls "motorcycle-inspired styling", highlighted by brushed aluminum-alloy rims and color-infused aluminum body panels. Inside it sports a "driver-oriented cockpit" featuring an integrated Xbox 360 gaming system - what every roadster owner needs.

Of course, the URGE could merely be the Japanese brands Nissan Design America, Inc., La Jolla, California studio having fun. There could be no concrete plans to enter the roadster market; normally a low-profit niche segment as it is. Fans of the brand, however, are no doubt hoping otherwise.
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