Nissan Land Glider Concept Hits 2009 Tokyo Show

The Tokyo Motor Show has a rep from bringing out the goofy in Japanese manufacturers (and if you think about it, they can get uber-goofy without trying very hard). And this year's best case in point (so far) might just be the Nissan Land Glider Concept. Sure, it's a concept, but there have been odd rumblings that Nissan is looking to this thing as some sort of touchstone for a future vehicle.

The Japanese automaker will debut the new Land Glider concept which Nissan intends to be an urban runabout. The tandem two-seat Land Glider is fully electric and, as even Ray Charles could see, is extremely narrow. Nissan did this as a means of easing congestion in dense city centers and make it easier to find suitable parking spots.

The cockpit has the driver in a very pilot-like setting, looking out of an aircraft like windscreen and confronted with a futuristic instrument cluster and a steering wheel that looks like twin joysticks. Nissan says the steering is computer controlled through a drive-by-wire set up, so there's no direct connection between the steering wheel and the car's four contact patches.

And, as you will also notice form the shots, the Land Glider has the ability to lean into turns like a motorcycle or a boat. There's a Dutch three-wheeler out there called The Carver that does the same thing, and it's supposed to be an amazing sensation (someone go to Holland and tell me if this is true or not).

Not only does this significantly improve cornering, it supposed to give the driver a real "flying over the road" sensation. And I'm all for that. And I also like the idea of a single seater, which this essentially is. Sure, the current show car looks as goofy as ... well as goofy as a show car at any number of Tokyo Motor Shows. But in all honesty, if they were to make a production ready version of this (which Nissan says they're considering in some form or another), and they were to make the styling sleeker, I'd be interested in seeing what the thing could do on the coast road.

Source: AutoBlog