Wild Nissan Aura RS Concept hints at future NISMO
NISMO desperately needs an image booster - a widebody hybrid hot hatch might be just the thing
Still no region can rival Japan for car names, and the Nissan Aura is the perfect example. Because this forgettable little hatchback, an evolution of what we used to know as the Note, could hardly be further from aura if it tried. Even the NISMO version isn’t anything to write home about. But what you’re looking at here isn’t any old Aura NISMO; it’s the Aura NISMO RS Concept, a drastically more powerful, more aggressive and more interesting Aura that ‘leverages vehicle technologies refined through mass production and expertise gained from motorsports development’. Nissan is apparently keen on making it a real thing, too, which is exciting.
Essentially, this Aura takes the standard NISMO and bolsters it with electric power from the X-Trail NISMO. So there’s a modest 1.5-litre engine with 144hp, supported by two electric motors: the front one brings another 204hp to the party, the rear chiming in with 136hp. And while hybrids can never typically have power sources all tallied up for a grand total, even an Aura with more than 350hp is considerably more interesting. Especially as it still weighs just 1,490kg.
Furthermore, the introduction of two electric motors means Nissan’s e-4ORCE all-wheel drive, which here benefits from a NISMO tune (hopefully a fun one); tyres are Michelin Pilot Sport 4s, on a set of 18-inch NISMO wheels that could have come straight from a spicy Skyline. Brakes are uprated, too, so that the Aura RS can handle the additional weight and performance.
It’s all the kind of stuff you’d expect to find on a production hot hatch, basically; this seems far more viable than previous Nissan show cars like the Hyper Force. There are the usual NISMO red accents, and even an underbonnet shot showing a very plain little engine. When Nissan says it ‘is exploring the potential of bringing this concept to market as a production car’, it’s very easy to see how that might happen. And surely that’s what NISMO needs if it’s to be relevant again in a world that features N-grade Hyundais and Gazoo Racing Toyotas; a car that feels attainable and relevant, not another GT-R with a new weave of carbon bonnet that nobody can afford.
Let’s hope a real RS can look as extreme as this one, too. The Aura is now 20mm lower, 142mm longer and 145mm wider than standard, butch and unabashed in best Japanese tuner car tradition. You wouldn’t call it pretty, but you would say it’s purposeful, and that’s absolutely fine. Still better looking than a Juke NISMO RS, too…
“Under our Re:Nissan strategy, we are committed to introducing heartbeat models at speed that resonate with customers,” said Yutaka Sanada, president and CEO of NMC. “We are extremely pleased to unveil the Aura NISMO RS Concept as our first offering born from our collective NMC expertise. Since the beginning, NISMO has pursued motorsports with a belief in pushing people and technology to the limit to achieve victory. That passion has driven innovation and peak excitement; and we’ll continue striving to deliver that to customers and fans worldwide.” Certainly Sanada is saying all the right things for the moment, and a showroom version of this car would undoubtedly have folk talking about NISMO in a way that they haven’t for years. Let’s see - stranger things have certainly happened. In the meantime, how good do NISMO Zeds still look?
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