Nissan thinks this IMk concept is the perfect city car

Hello and welcome to the latest episode of Top Gear’s Concept Car Bingo. This week we welcome the Nissan IMk, and we could have a full house on our hands here people…

Included in Nissan’s press release are buzzwords and phrases such as: connectivity, chic design, flowing lines, nimble driving characteristics, redefined design language, autonomous driving, holographic displays and (ding, ding, ding – we have a winner) advanced driver assistance technologies.

Yep, the IMk has it all.

Let’s take things back to the start, though. Essentially, the IMk concept is Nissan telling us what we all need in the perfect city car. Of course, that means it’s an EV – and apparently it sits on a whole new platform, so maybe we should expect a city-sized electric car from Nissan soon? For reference, it’s 3.4m long, 1.5m wide and 1.6m tall.

We’ve no word on range, battery size, charging times or performance though, so we’ll just have to focus on the styling for now…

Nissan says it was inspired by “the flowing patterns of mizuhiki, a thin twine made of Japanese rice paper". What that has translated into is a boxy little Kei car-style shape, but with bulging arches and a swoopy spoiler. Looks pretty cool though doesn’t it? It’d certainly be a tonic for all of those SUVs on city streets.

There’s more Japanese influence in that copper paint scheme too. It apparently pays homage to artisans that formed copper into functional works of art.

Apparently, the IMk also hints at the new direction of Nissan’s design language (known as Timeless Japanese Futurism). We’d expect to see at least the new front grille make its way onto other models in some form – although we say grille, for Nissan’s EVs it’s actually a shield that hides a host of sensors and other electronic gubbins.

The inside is probably best described as minimalist. There’s a bench seat across the front that Nissan says “gives the impression of sitting on a floating cloud.” Lovely. And there’s a nod to the Japanese wood joinery technique of kigumi with those wooden slats at the bottom of each door. 

We can’t tell you too much else about the IMk, other than it’s fully-connected of course. Oh, and the current level of autonomy is that it’ll valet park itself – where have we heard that before?