NAIAS 2018: Nissan Xmotion concept comes with a Koi friend

Nissan is exploring the boundaries of designing its future vehicles for its Intelligent Mobility. From the one-pedal Leaf last year, the Japanese marque now reveals its latest concept vehicle dubbed as the Xmotion – a 6-seat, 3-row SUV. 

Xmotion is just a shortened word of the actual pronunciation. So, if you're having a hard time pronouncing it naturally, it is actually 'cross motion' and Nissan has a reason for naming it like that. 

The word 'cross' points out to the idea of fusing Japanese traditional craftsmanship and American-style utility. If we are to translate this in simpler terms, the car has complex futuristic design, such as the unconventional linear headlamps. 

As minimalist as the exterior looks like, the interior is even more breathable. It features a Japanese landscape-inspired cabin with native architectural wood joinery techniques such as 'kanawa tsugi' and 'kigumi.' These methods require no use of nails or glue but are acclaimed for their durability.

The highlight of the cabin is the 3 digital displays that is scattered inside: the long screen atop the dashboard, a 'digital room mirror,' and a center console display. The long screen is composed of 3 main displays and digital side mirrors. The digital room mirror, on the other hand, replaces the traditional rearview mirror.

This is where everything goes fishy, the car features a 'floating koi' virtual personal assistant that awakes upon activating the car through fingerprint authentication. It will then link the car to your smartphone to open important information, such as weather, music, and vehicle system info. Your koi friend is what also makes the car drive autonomously by browsing information about the vehicle's surroundings.

Nissan is quite confident that the Xmotion will make it to the real world, saying that its design and technologies are very feasible to be attained in the future. Will it be one of those successful concept-to-real thing vehicles we see today? Or will it just pile up to the forgotten metal-on-wheels concept of the past? As for now, there are no clear answers aside from what Nissan believes.