Design Showcase: hip 2 be sQuare
By Shaun Keenan
The Design Showcase is off to a rolling start in 2009. We’ve already checked out a sporty little Dodge/Lotus concept that runs on battery power and a flagship concept for Toyota’s “Scion” urban sport compact vehicle lineup that’s bound for Canada next year. It’s high time we take a look at this small, quirky-looking Nissan that you don’t have to wait a year for.
Enter the Cube. Well, sort of. This is actually the third iteration of this small multi-purpose utility vehicle. The first two gens have been available in Japan for over a decade. This year, it enters the North American market and goes on sale this April or May.
Looking a lot more like a traditional hatchback, the first gen (’98 to ’02) bears little semblance to the vehicle you see here. The second generation (’02 to ’09) Cube was a more upright and boxy vehicle. It looks a lot more like what you see here, but something was still missing.
Exterior designer Hirotada Kuwahara had been working on Cube sketches featuring asymmetrical design elements for years, but none had been taken seriously until John Sahs took charge of the Cube exterior when the third generation was in development. These two are largely responsible for how the Cube looks today.
The second gen was a hit in its home market. So, when the decision to start selling it globally came down, there was still work to do to ensure it would it appeal to a vastly larger audience. The goal was to create a unique vehicle with a very spacious, lounge-like interior where you could fit your friends, travel comfortably and chill out without giving up the functionality and convenience of a utility vehicle.
As such, today’s Cube was designed around the concept of maximizing interior space and pairing it with a very interesting exterior. It was not designed as a car, but rather as a vehicle that reflects a way of thinking about what a car should be and what it should do.
After rolling out onto its display stand at the 2009 Canadian International Auto Show packed with no fewer than five pro CFL players from the Toronto Argonauts, Ian Forsyth, Director of Corporate and Product Planning for Nissan Canada, took time to walk around the vehicle with me.
“It’s a bulldog with sunglasses,” he begins, pointing to the grille and headlights. “The upper grille is a lot like the underbite of a bulldog’s mouth. Note how the headlights project a bit forward and are masked by this greyish grille. It’s very unique and distinctive.”
This is not accidental and Sahs has said, “When I made a full-scale model to look at its proportions, the wide stance reminded me of a dog with four paws firmly grounded. After chatting with my colleagues, we agreed that a bulldog best fits the unique, charming image of the Cube. We put sunglasses on the bulldog to add charm as we expanded on this image.”
Standing 65 inches tall, 66.7 inches wide and 156.7 inches long, it was important for the Cube to be attractive and extraordinary. There’s a lot of surface area on the vehicle, yet there’s motion and dynamism to the sheet metal rather than it simply it being a series of flat planes intersecting one another.
Look at the rounded-off leading edge of the hood and the way it flows down into the grille area. The masking here gives a nice 3D effect and, with the protruding front bumper adding more depth to the lower fascia, the look is certainly pugnacious.
“You get the same feeling down the sides of the vehicle thanks to the pronounced wheel arches. It’s not dull and boring and the wheel-centric form is very much part of Nissan’s design language,” tells Forsyth. “Even though they’re relatively small (15 inches) they’re pushed out to the corners and look very prominent on the vehicle.
“It helps give it stance and substance on the road. The wheels are also connected by the rocker panel area, which features an indent or character line that goes from the front wheel arch to the rear arch to provide a sense of unity and solidity without making the vehicle look huge, heavy or overwhelming.”
Another interesting design element we haven’t seen much of yet is the masking around the windows. Personally, this is what makes the Cube look so unique. “You still have the all utility and the visibility you need from the glass, but it provides this somewhat different look,” Forsyth adds.
“That circular shape is also mirrored in the tailgate area where the elements come together and make it look interesting. It’s a way of expressing a feeling for the vehicle – that it has some life and character – without making it very large or very bold.”
Another really unique design element is the asymmetrical side/rear window. Most vehicles have a definite pillar that separates the rear side glass from the rear glass. In this case, it wraps around (although the pillar is there to meet crash safety standards) the corner and creates a very unique feature without taking away from its functionality. Second gens didn’t have this.
Repeating the unique design elements and emphasizing them in logical organic terms helps to connect everything on the third generation Cube. It may be a bit unusual, but it’s part of its character and what makes the Cube different from other vehicles.
Then there’s the interior, which is just as interesting since its inspiration came from a jacuzzi lounge concept and memories of an old guitar made into a table, according to the designer, Tadamasa Hayakawa.
“Inside, they went with a water drop theme,” Forsyth elaborates. “If you look at the headliner, speaker grilles or even the cup holders, you’ll see these concentric circles that make it look like someone dropped something there.”
Meant to express the idea of human connection, the waves emanate outward from the dome light, which when turned on casts some interesting shadows on the headliner, adding depth where there’s traditionally none.
Combine this with a three-person “love seat” in the rear and non-traditional dash area up front, and the result is a “compact-but-roomy” space that you can feel relaxed in. When you need to make use of the Cube’s interior space, the rear seats fold down and slide forward right to the back of the front seats.
“The rear cargo door is hinged on the left so you’re away from traffic on the curb side of the vehicle,” notes Forsyth. “The door holds itself open at about 11- or 12-degrees so you can still easily access it in tight confines. Space permitting, it can swing wide open to around 80-degrees.”
From a functionality perspective, there are two things about my Honda Element I would like to have seen done here. First, the two-piece clamshell-style tailgate makes loading and unloading cargo a cinch and, second, the rear seats in mine come right out to make room for even bigger cargo when needed. That said, the Cube sells for much less and should do well here.
Cube is powered by a 122-hp 1.8-litre four-cylinder engine with a six-speed manual as standard. The Xtronic CVT is also available.
Pricing was not available at press time, though Forsyth says “it will be competitive with other basic small vehicles.” I expect a starting price in the high teens. Watch for it to start arriving in dealerships any day now. They might even be there already.
The Nissan Technical Centre in Japan has done a fantastic job creating a social vehicle with character that is enjoyable to drive and be with, but also fuel efficient and economical to drive in today’s world.
That, my friends, is hip to be square.
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