Nissan Gets Its Van On with Hyper Tourer Concept for Tokyo

• Nissan previewed a new minivan concept ahead of its debut at the Tokyo auto show.
• Its angular design language hints at a future styling direction for the Japanese brand.
• The concept’s spectacular interior includes face-to-face seating for autonomous operation.

We love futuristic concept cars and we love minivans, so Nissan’s combination of the two in the spectacular form of the Hyper Tourer, set to be formally unveiled at the Tokyo auto show next week, is one we are more than happy to celebrate here.

This is definitely not a “close to production” concept previewing a future model; the Hyper Tourer’s role seems to be mostly to drop hints about Nissan’s next generation of design. The company has already previewed the lower and sleeker Hyper Urban concept, another Tokyo debut, earlier this month. Taken together, both suggest we can expect to see much more angular form language in the company’s forthcoming products.

The electric Hyper Tourer is pitched as a vehicle that “re-envisions the group road trip by combining the comfort of a luxurious living room with the convenience of a passenger van—all contained in a styish and futuristic package.”

It certainly delivers on that last point, with the body panels featuring the contrast between smooth body panels and “sharp character lines” intended to convey traditional Japanese beauty. The white accent line that splits the glass from the bodywork around the Hyper Tourer’s whole exterior also incorporates ultra-slim headlights, while the broad front panel and wheels incorporate kumiko patterning, a traditional Japanese design normally made from interlocking wooden bars.

But the Hyper Tourer’s interior is where the real fun starts thanks to the combination of huge space—helped by what Nissan says are solid-state batteries—with some spectacular design features. Twin sliding doors give access to a cabin featuring four individual chairs, with the ones in the front pivoting to face those behind when the car is driving fully autonomously.

As with the other claimed technology, you’ll need to use some imagination here, especially as we are now a full three years beyond the point where previous Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn, more recently an international fugitive, promised the company would have delivered full self driving. But it’s good to know that dream isn’t dead.

The rear of the Hyper Tourer uses more traditional Japanese designs, but also has a huge flat LED panel display in the floor which can show images of a riverbed and the sky to, as the company puts it, “help create a relaxing space where digital and nature are fused.” Rear-seat passengers can apparently also use a wearable display system to view and operate navigation and audio settings, so they don’t feel excluded.

There seems no chance that anything similar to the Hyper Tourer will make production, and, even if it did, there’s almost no chance it would come to the U.S. But we can dream, can’t we?