Nissan London design studio unveils playful 3-door EV concept

There is no better way for Nissan to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its London design studio than to let its designers flex their creative muscle and come up with a concept that reveals what the company’s future models could look like while connecting with its small car heritage.

What you are looking at is Nissan’s Concept 20-23. It is the work of the Nissan Design Europe (NDE) member when asked to design a car based on two things - no constraints and “something they would like to drive.” The team took every inspiration possible, including Formula E, online simulator racing, and the marque’s Pike cars like the Be-1, Pao, Figaro, and S-Cargo.

"The young team here at NDE was given a simple brief: design a fun electric city car that you'd like to drive every day in London. The 20-23 Concept that they designed is a compact hatchback that is strongly influenced by the online racing world. I love the story it tells about how the worlds of modern city living, online gaming, and zero emissions mobility intersect," said Alfonso Albaisa, Nissan's Senior Vice President for global design.

Concept 20-23’s name comes from the 20th anniversary of the London design studio and the current year, which is also the company’s name in the alphabetic numeral system - 2 is “ni” and 3 is “san.” Its body is a three-door hatchback with an aerodynamic front and rear addenda, deep skirts that direct the airflow away from the front of the car, LED technology, and a rear spoiler.

Scissor doors that lift from the base of the A-pillar open up to a high-tech cabin. Inside are two bucket seats in a near-white finish and with a large head support reminiscent of racing cars. In front of the driver is a rectangular sports steering wheel with multiple controls and adjustments and paddle shifters on a steering column with a carbon-fiber mount.

Formula E takeaways include a fire extinguisher mounted beneath the brace bars and two screens that display vehicle information.

The Concept 20-23 is a bold interpretation of Nissan’s future small electric cars, and if the production version looks anything like this, we likey!