Nissan will pull the covers off a quirky and sporty electric vehicle concept at the Tokyo Motor Show later this month as it presses on with its bid to tap the burgeoning green-car market.
The company, which has been selling its Leaf electric vehicle since late 2010, said it hoped its Nissan BladeGlider would help it reach a market of male drivers who still want performance and styling in an environmentally friendly car - a major hurdle to widespread commercial sales.
The car features an aerodynamic design that widens from the front to back with space for a driver in the middle and two passengers in the rear.
The design - one metre in the front and 1.89 metres at the back and made with lightweight carbon fibres - puts the vehicle's centre of mass on the rear tyres to allow for tighter turns, Nissan said.
"The driver's seat has been positioned in the middle of the vehicle to give a sense of a pilot in an airborne glider," Nissan said.
The concept vehicle is squarely aimed at moving into a higher-end electric vehicle market already tapped with some success by US-based Tesla.
This week, Toyota said it planned to unveil its latest fuel-cell concept car at the Japanese show, with an expected commercial rollout two years away.
Range, performance, re-fuelling infrastructure and relatively high prices have proved major hurdles to widespread sales of green vehicles.
Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn has been a major promoter of electric cars and vowed to press on despite lacklustre demand so far.
The Japanese firm has invested about $5.4 billion (R55 billion) in electric car development in a partnership with Renault. -AFP