Nissan Sway Concept Previews Sporty New Hatch in Geneva

The 2015 Geneva Motor Show is finally underway, and our first piece of coverage is for an all-new hot hatch from Nissan. Last week we saw our first couple teasers for the new Nissan Sway Concept, and now we finally have an in-the-metal look at this dynamic compact concept car.

It’s clear that the Nissan Sway Concept has been “designed to shake up the traditionally conservative B- segment hatchback sector.” The Japanese automaker is taking the same approach in the compact hatch segment that they’ve already successfully executed in the crossover segment with the Nissan Juke and Qashqai.

Now that we have a full look at the Nissan Sway Concept, it’s much easier to evaluate its design. There are a few key design elements that Nissan pointed out in their presentation today at Geneva…

First, the V-motion grille, which basically forms the visual foundation for the rest of the hatch’s design. The boldly sculpted bodylines curve over the bonnet and wheels to straighten out along the side of the car. The boomerang headlights perfectly accent the dynamic, fluid movement of the grille with a piercing, eye-like design. Nissan notes that they’ve broken the norm by making the boomerang LED one solid lamp and inserting separated LEDs within.

The swooping body lines extending from the front of the Sway Concept pinch in the middle and kick back up for a highly elevated C-pillar. This creates an extremely sporty profile that’s further accentuated by the heavily sculpted rear-end.

Finally, the coup de grace is the panoramic floating roof, which is a design element we’ve grown to love from Nissan’s recent concepts. This time they’ve used a C-shaped orange construct to span from the A-pillar to the top of C-pillar (no B-pillar) and into a slight rear spoiler. This perfectly contrasts the blue-steel aesthetic of the body. Inside the C-shape is a supportive X-shaped structure (see below) which sits directly above the front seat.

With a design like this, you can see why Nissan highlights ‘dynamic’ and ‘sporty’ as key words when describing their goals for the new Sway Concept. And believe it or not, the interior is just as cool.

The Nissan Sway Concept was carefully designed from the inside out to appeal to the demands of today’s European drivers. Designers were instructed to look at current European fashion trends to select a color scheme and materials for the Sway’s cabin. The result is a rich indigo and silver interior with white and orange accents. The materials used are a mixture of leather, fabric and metal. They’ve also implemented their ‘Gliding Wing-shaped dashboard’ to ensure that the front dash feels spacious, comfortable and intuitive.

Unfortunately, Nissan didn’t confirm exactly when or how their new Nissan Sway Concept would come to market… Only that it would definitely be doing so. Our guess is still that this is a preview for the new Micra, but we’ll just have to wait and see.