GENEVA MOTOR SHOW: Nissan Sway makes the pitch

Nissan's designers have placed a literal interpretation on the phrase 'edgy styling' with the Sway concept car revealed overnight in Geneva.

Strong swage lines and a busy front end mark the Sway as something distinctly different from the current bland design of Micra K13 – the light hatch expected to be replaced by a production version of the show car, as we reported just two days ago.

The pedestrian-friendly mandarins at the Brussels HQ of Euro NCAP may be recoiling in shock and reaching for the Prozac now that the shroud has been lifted to reveal the Sway underneath, Nissan will possibly tone the styling language down anyway, before it resurfaces on the production Micra.

The Sway's styling builds on the V-motion grille already seen locally on Nissan models such as the Qashqai and X-Trail. But the show car also features a floating roof, 'boomerang tail lights' and kicked-up C pillars. According to Nissan's press release, the Sway follows the styling path pioneered by the Lannia concept car unveiled in Beijing last year /news/2014/small-passenger/nissan/beijing-motor-show-nissan-lannia-concept-unveiled-43138, and will be a model for the corporate look of future Nissan models across a lot of market segments – if not indeed all of them.

"We believe that the Sway continues our tradition of challenging the status quo in market segments by bringing something fresh, distinctive and striking, much as we did with Qashqai and Juke," said said Shiro Nakamura, Senior Vice President of Design at Nissan.

"With this new concept car for Geneva, we are experimenting to see how Nissan might be able to bring fresh ideas to the compact hatchback segment."

Finished in Bluish Dawn Grey and featuring pillarless hardtop styling with an X-structure roof lending the car strength and torsional rigidity, the Sway measures 4010mm long (riding on a 2570mm wheelbase), 1780mm wide and 1385mm high.