Nissan Unveils The New IMs At Detroit Auto Show

This year’s Detroit Show was rather electrifying (literally). Nissan joined the bandwagon of new electric cars with style after it unveiled the IMs concept. From the looks of it and what we were told about the car, it might be safe to say that Nissan could be onto an entirely new segment.

The company calls it an “elevated sports sedan” that takes advantage of the packaging, platform and powertrain technology developed through Nissan Intelligent Mobility. The IMs leans more towards a sedan than a crossover, which can potentially define a new segment itself.

Meanwhile, what grabbed eyeballs was the 2+1+2 seating architecture that the car carries. The front seats rotate fully about their centres and the rear seat offers two configurations. Additionally, the rear seat can also be set up to offer three side-by-side seating or an indulgent “Premier Seat”.

Alfonso Albaisa, Senior Vice President for design at Nissan, said: “Advances in electric vehicle technology and autonomous driving have allowed our designers to break free of the platform and packaging rules that constrain traditional passenger vehicles, to create a completely new type of car. The IMs explores the limits of sedan design with an approach that elevates the category in both look and functionality.”

The IMs kicks things off with two electric motors at each axle that generates 483hp and 800Nm of torque together. It is equipped with a fast-charging 115 kWh battery that can deliver up to 600km of range on a single charge. It also has three pillars of Nissan Intelligent Mobility, namely Intelligent Driving, Intelligent Power, and Intelligent Integration.

“We looked at Nissan’s heritage and realized that some of our most successful models, such as the first-generation Murano and our Z® cars, all had very simple silhouettes,” said Albaisa. “With the simplicity of design, the perceived quality is also naturally improved.”

A cherry on the cake is the new V2X (Vehicle-To-Everything) that Nissan has graced the IMs with. This allows the car to communicate effectively with other intelligent entities like smart traffic lights, parking meters, other cars and anything that is V2X enabled.