The Nissan IDx won’t be produced. At least this is what Automotive News writes. The news isn’t that shocking but personally I’m disappointed. I saw it in 2013 at the Tokyo Motor Show and it wasn’t bad at all. Especially for the concept behind it, explained to me by Shiro Nakamura, head of design: “ To offer a fun sports car at reasonable cost even for the young”. Moreover with a design that resembled the American muscle cars such as the Mustang and Corvette.
Never mind if the Japanese intention was to recall the less known (by us) early ’70s Datsun 510. The IDx reminded us rather of the legendary General Lee from the series Hazzard which caught the imagination of my generation (the younger ones can find a picture below).
The IDx is not the usual sports version of the city car of the moment turned into an excessive car, almost vulgar and ultimately far too expensive. An exaggeration to which even the Japanese in Nissan can’t back out of, albeit with more elegance with the name Nismo. The IDx was the idea of an original type of car with an inevitable rear-wheel drive, created for the young in age and spirit, only in the sports version and accessible to all (or almost). It would have been placed side by side with the more pretentious 370Z and the GT-R.
The great sponsor of the IDx was the Englishman Andy Palmer, great lover of sports cars, raised at the court of Carlos Ghosn to become head of the product strategy and now CEO of Aston Martin. When he left Nissan the project seem to be definitely closed. What a shame.
