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SVX mention
Nissan Moves in Europe
The Car Connection
Nissan is another company that will show a new concept at the Geneva show in early March. The Zaroot is billed as Nissan's view of how sporty SUVs could look in the future, combining SUV values with futuristic styling that includes gullwing doors. The doors stretch from the windshield pillar back to the rear of the passenger compartment, giving access to both front and rear seats on each side. The design cuts out the normal B-pillar, but the look is not one that could warrant the old coachbuilder's term of pillarless, since the rear edge of the door is considerably thick. The overall look of the vehicle is tough, with aesthetics that follow those of a real off-roader such as a Jeep rather than the soft-roaders that have become a Japanese specialty. Judgment on the design will have to wait until the Zaroot has been seen in the metal, but it must be said that gullwing doors were first seen in the 1950s from Mercedes and the "window in a window" format this concept uses was featured in the 1989 Subaru concept that went into production in 1992 as the SVX coupe. On the production car front, Nissan has announced that it will add another model to those produced at its plant in Sunderland, England, from 2007. The new car, codenamed P32L, is based on the Qashqai concept car unveiled at the 2004 Geneva Motor Show. This was the first model to be styled at Nissan Design Europe in Paddington, London. It was developed at Nissan Technical Centre Europe in Bedfordshire, U.K.
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