Call me jaded, but it has been a very long time since I have seen a concept car that had me literally begging the manufacturer to build it. At last Fall’s Tokyo Auto Show, I actually begged Nissan’s global VP of design to build the car. I put my Platinum Visa on the table and told him to take a deposit. I want Nissan to build the iDX NISMO that badly.
The fact that they brought BRE Datsun leader, designer and photographer extraordinaire to the party just sweetened the pot.
The problem is that we haven’t heard much about the iDX since those buggers at R&T actually drove one of the concepts earlier this year.
Peter Brock and iDX designer Peter Beasley
There was a story floating around a couple of weeks ago that the project has been shelved, but Matt Campbell at Car Advice spent some time with Nissan VP of product development, Keno Kato, who shot that story down. Sort of.
“That’s a funny story around iDX. Andy [Palmer] said it’s under way, and Pierre Liong, head of product planning in Nissan North America said it’s not so feasible. But Pierre Liong is under me, and Andy is my boss.” Kato told Campbell.
In fact, Kato’s message echos what I was told when he said: “It is under preparation and development. [The project is] 50/50 until some milestone to decide ‘go!’”, however he suggested that by ‘go’ he meant that the car would be further assessed in terms of the profits required, the investment needed and securing the manufacturing sight.”
So, it sounds like there is still hope. If Kato’s thoughts on pricing become reality, then I will happily plunk down my Visa again!
