It Makes A Beautiful Dream
Newcastle Herald
Saturday January 10, 2004
THERE is nothing like a major motor show to draw out the car makers' four-wheeled oddities.
A case in point is Nissan's Actic concept car that made its global debut at this week's North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
Actic, designed and built at Nissan Design America in La Jolla, California, takes its cues from small, hand-held, high-tech items such as personal digital assistants, MP3 players and global positioning systems, and rolls them into a sort of five-door hatchback.
As an example, the car uses display screens in place of traditional vehicle control systems, programming them from the key fob, which is actually a 100-gigabyte, transmitting hard drive that can have vehicle settings, preferences and configurations downloaded into it.
Six headlining-mounted, flat screen, liquid crystal display units can even be programmed to set the interior mood. Night can become day and bleak weather outside can be made into a sunny day inside. Wow!
Of course there is some practicality to the car.
For example, traditional hinged, swinging doors are replaced by two sliding doors on either side, the front doors slide forward and the rear doors backwards to create a huge entry hole.
Smart door handles appear when a hand is waved across them and the lack of a central or ``B" pillar gives the side glass an unbroken appearance.
The body is not attached to the road through the chassis, instead having its own shock absorber-damped sub-assembly.
Actic seats three on modular, folding seats that can be staggered (with the exception of the driver's seat) for passenger or luggage requirements.
Even the wheels and tyres are different, Nissan choosing run-flat Michelin tyres that are actually laminated onto the alloy rims.
There is even a special trailer (developed hand-in-glove with the car) with lift- up top and inflatable side walls.
The trailer, says Nissan, can be turned into a comfortable place to sleep three people.
It goes without saying that we don't expect to see Actic on the road anytime soon if ever.
© 2004 Newcastle Herald