Nissan is pulling the covers off the latest version of its Pivo concept car at the Tokyo Motor Show early next month and it's sure to become the butt of a few chauvinistic jokes.
Should something like this minute town car ever see the light of day, it will make life extremely easy for urban commuters.
Its top party trick is what Nissan calls Automated Valet Parking (AVP), but in order for this to work you'll have to find yourself in what Nissan envisions as “an infrastructure-equipped parking lot of the future.”
Much more than your average auto-park function, this system will find you a parking space and park without any driver intervention. It'll then charge itself while you're busy and then meet you at the parking lot exit once you've called it with you smartphone.
A good size for tight cities, the Pivo 3 is just three metres long and has a wide-enough steering angle to allow you to make a U-turn on a road that's just four metres wide. It has a zero turn gap, so if the front wheels can make the turn, the rear wheels will follow without scraping the body side.
It's hardly a family car, however, its cabin (accessed through sliding doors) only having space for three occupants, with the driver sitting in the middle.