IMs Concept: Nissan wants to conquer the luxury segment with e-sports sedan
With the Leaf, Nissan launched the now-best-selling electric car in the world almost ten years ago. A special model with a more powerful battery will allow the compact car from summer a range of up to 385 kilometers. Significantly farther – more than 600 kilometers – is the now presented at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit e-sports sedan IMs Concept with a single charge, as The Verge reported.
A new @Nissan concept is revealed. # naias2019 pic.twitter.com/yjTYpxXeTf
– Detroit Free Press (@freep) January 14, 2019
Nissan apparently wants to celebrate successes in the luxury segment with the electric car, which is currently only available as a concept car, and where Tesla is currently in charge. With the IMs, Nissan has designed a new kind of car that explores the limits of sedan design, as Nissan’s chief designer Alfonso Albaisa explains.
Nissan: Design of IMs Concept Reminiscent of Electric Car Startups
This time around, Nissan designers and developers seem to have been more interested in concept cars from electric car startups in Silicon Valley or China, such as Lucid Motors and Byton, than in their own models. However, Nissan had brought in 2017 (V-Motion) and 2018 (X-Motion) chic concept vehicles with the auto show. None of them has gone into production yet.
The technical data are certainly impressive. The IMs Concept has four-wheel drive, two electric motors (one front and one at the back) and a 115 kilowatt-hour battery. The total output is given as 360 kilowatts or 483 horsepower.
The e-sedan should also be able to drive autonomously. Details about possibly installed sensors or hardware are not available yet. The plan is simply that the IMs in autonomous driving mode should be transformed into a generous space of communication and interaction. The steering wheel returns, the front seats turn inwards.
