Nissan newcomer to square up to superminis

Nov 20 2008 Steve Hughes

ARGUABLY the oddest-looking vehicle ever created is heading this way, courtesy of Nissan.

The aptly-named Cube has been a familiar sight on the roads of its native Japan for a decade but has always been regarded as far too wacky for conservative Continental tastes.

Now a redesign has, if anything, made it even more bizarre and Nissan believes that the world is finally up for it.

With aspirations for global domination of the expanding small car sector, the Cube is due to arrive here in precisely a year from now.

Competing mainly against small cars of a similar format such as the Citroen Berlingo and Renault Kangoo, it is likely to come with a choice of 1.5-litre diesel and 1.6-litre petrol engines.

The curious aspect of the Cube is that although it is basically boxy, as its name suggests, it is also very curvy.

The recessed windows appear to be sculpted out of the bodywork, the front and rear ends have pronounced curves and the dashboard is so curvy that the designers call it a wave-effect.

As is so often the case with vehicles from the Far East, passengers in the rear sit higher up than those in the front in order to display their superiority over the minion who drives them.

Unusually, the rear tailgate is hinged to the side so that the entire rear end can be opened up entirely, which also makes the vehicle wheelchair-friendly.

The Cube is expected to slot into the range of cars that are currently priced at about £11,000.