The Nissan Lannia Concept unveiled at Auto China 2014 was designed at the company’s design center in Beijing to appeal China’s rising ‘post-80s’ generation, which is rapidly buying up cars. Expressing the second largest Japanese automaker’s ambitions in the world’s biggest auto market, the concept is a four door sedan roughly the size of the Teana, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary in the market.
Positioned as a ‘sedan theory-breaker’, The Lannia Concept is the second vehicle to result from a collaboration between Nissan Design China and the Nissan Global Design Center in Japan. The first was the Friend-Me concept which made its debut at Auto China 2013 in Shanghai last year.
With flowing surfacing, a proud V-motion grille and blacked out pillars providing its ‘floating roof’, the Lannia’s design is similar to the Sports Sedan Concept in its exterior aesthetic, a consistency that’s been lacking in the company’s most recent show cars, such as the Bladeglider and IDx shown at the Tokyo auto show last year. Regrettably, as with many concept cars at this year’s show, the interior was non-existent.
The design is said to be in line with the tastes and values of contemporary Chinese ‘post-80s’ trendsetters and aims to cater to their ‘digital lifestyle’. “Lannia Concept joins our growing family of China-focused models,” chief planning officer, Andy Palmer, explains. “It was designed by Chinese, built by Chinese for the Chinese people and, ultimately, for the world.”
Palmer recognized the heavy involvement of the local Chinese teams spanning from market research to design that led to the birth of the Lannia Concept. Its Chinese name, 蓝鸟・印象 (lan niao, yin xiang) was also announced in honor of the legendary Nissan Bluebird, which provided inspiration for the design.
Above is a three minute video with Nissan Design China director Taiji Toyota detailing the reasoning behind its creation, while the video below features executive design director Mamoru Aoki explaining how the concept builds on the design themes found in the Resonance, Friend-Me and the Sports Sedan Concept.
