The Nissan Hyper Urban is a concept electric city car with scissor doors

Nissan has reaffirmed its commitment to the original 2030 petrol and diesel car ban, despite the UK govt pushing it back to 2035. As such, the Japanese carmaker is releasing a raft of new electric concepts – like this ‘Hyper Urban’ – set to determine its future.

Big, Important Stuff, then. Not as important however, TopGear.com contends, as the fact this Hyper Urban concept is a city car with scissor doors. Accelerating the transition to zero-emissions is a noble ambition. Doing it with supercar-style doors on a city runabout, even more so.

Let’s park the practicality of such a dramatic ingress and egress arrangement for a moment. Nissan itself describes the car’s aero-enhanced silhouette as “sleek” and “modern”. The angular, sharply-creased runaround’s lime yellow body colour is apparently chromatic and thus changes depending on the light, framed by fat wheels and tyres. This, says Nissan, “evokes rugged dynamics with urban aesthetics”.

There are similar concept car flourishes inside, with an instrument panel custom-matched to the customer’s mood and collapsible seats. Heck, Nissan reckons you can park it inside your “loft apartment or bungalow so that it becomes an interior space to unwind”. Again, let’s park the practicality of driving a small car into a loft apartment.

Drivetrain? It… probably has one. Nissan hasn’t yet explained what propels the Hyper Urban over the basic tenet of ‘electricity’. We are told the HU concept features V2H functionality (sending power back into your home), V2G (power back to the grid), and a charging system with AI (power back to Skynet?).

Nissan also points to the concept’s longevity – it’s been designed for a long-haul ownership experience, so hardware and software updates keep it fresh, and even the interior can be updated with a new instrument panel.

Mostly, though, scissor doors on a city car.