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| 2012 Nissan Hi-Cross Concept Front View |
Nissan’s present Euro crossover lineup is pretty crowded, so it’s surprising that Nissan says the Hi-Cross previews a “potential enlargement of the current Juke-Qashqai-Murano portfolio.” So what does the Hi-Cross bring to the table that Nissan’s different three excessive-driving wagons don’t? In addition to its hybrid powertrain, the Hello-Cross boasts seating for seven in three rows of seats. If you happen to’re questioning whether the Hello-Cross is somehow a 2013 Pathfinder in disguise, it isn’t. Dimensionally, it slots right in between the 5-passenger Qashqai and Murano. For a size reference that’s nearer to home, the Hi-Cross is about the same dimension because the Rogue offered here. It additionally might probably turn into the substitute for the X-Trail, a similarly sized SUV that’s been supplied elsewhere on this planet for more than a decade.
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| 2012 Nissan Hi-Cross Concept Interior |
Nissan says the Hello-Cross offers a glimpse of a new styling path for the brand. Up entrance there’s a recent take on the corporate grille flanked by a pair of Murano-like headlights, and the design has a number of extra arduous edges and creases than the present lineup of Nissan crossovers. We think it’s enticing, and its enjoyable-but-aggressive look reminds us a number of the Mazda CX-5. In fact, the concept’s muscular stance is helped in no small part by the set of 21-inch wheels. The cabin houses a cool-wanting capacitive middle stack and a future-think gauge cluster, but the cabin is otherwise devoid of typical show-car flourishes.
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| 2012 Nissan Hi-Cross Concept Rear View |
The Hello-Cross proves that Nissan’s commitment to CVTs hasn’t wavered, because it’s fitted with what’s being described as a next-era constantly variable transmission. To be fair, if this is similar revised Xtronic unit we sampled late final yr, it shouldn’t be fully terrible. As for the Hello-Cross’s hybrid system, Nissan doesn’t give the setup’s particulars, but it surely does say that it contains an electric motor, lithium-ion batteries, a direct-injection 2.zero-liter supercharged four, and the CVT. It also says that the system is built from entrance-drive-primarily based, in-home tech modified to supply all-wheel drive. With just a few particulars to go on, it nonetheless seems that the Hello-Cross’s hybrid powertrain features equally to those used within the Infiniti M35h and the upcoming
Nissan Altima hybrid sedan. In those models, the electrical motor is sandwiched between the engine and transmission, and could be coupled or decoupled from the engine through a clutch. A second clutch behind the transmission is used to clean out the transition from gas to electrical propulsion.
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| 2012 Nissan Hi-Cross Concept Side View |
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| 2012 Nissan Hi-Cross Concept Front Angle |
Given the Hello-Cross’s manufacturing-derived hybrid technology and interior packaging, it in all probability gained’t be an idea for long. Nissan refers back to the SUV as a “future crossover proposal,” and we can’t assist but think it would make a compelling Rogue alternative here within the States. Nissan’s difficult crossover and SUV strategy, however, makes that removed from a positive thing.
