Nissan Project Welcomes its Finalists

Nissan is an automaker that surely applauds interesting designs for their trucks. That's why, the Japanese car maker sponsored a semester-long project for the Cleveland Institute of Art at the end of last year, cardesignnews.com reported.

Interested students from the aforementioned institute were asked to create a “truck” which was defined as a vehicle that has some form of utility, for the year 2020.

At the beginning, students had to create a user. Then, they had to research what their user does, where the user will drive the vehicle as well as what commonly faced problems the future vehicles needed to solve. The final presentation was attended by design managers and designers from Nissan's California and Michigan studios, as well as from Ford, Chrysler, and General Motors. It included eight projects coming from seniors of the institute who are going to graduate in May, this year.

Their ideas varied from more traditional truck designs to daring projects that redefined what utility means. And because we know you are extremely curious to see their ideas, we will present them to you briefly one by one.

The project made by Peter Vurpillat presented the Nissan Biome which was specifically designed for an ecologist/biologist who studies rainforest plants in the hope of uncovering the secret to photosynthesis. The ecologist/biologist will use the vehicle on harsh terrain and will store plants in it for research.

Another project was made by Brandon Lynum and was named the Nissan Conduit. It presents a concept truck centered on an energy solution that reduces the vehicle's environmental impact.

Next, Josh Greiner created the Nissan Amp, specifically for band members and musicians. The vehicle was built taking into consideration their needs of storage space and transport.

The Nissan DIY was created by Joe Spalding especially for the "weekend warrior". Although it looks more like a traditional Nissan truck, the vehicle has a few features that make it an interesting project.

Another truck was the Nissan Earth imagined by Grant Gierosky who wanted to create a vehicle that uses fewer raw materials in its construction.

A daring project was the Nissan Flavor belonging to Dan Yee who created the truck in response to the economy's need of more specialized trucks to entice consumers.

The Nissan Mobile Maid created by Brian Peterson is a single-passenger vehicle that utilizes the interior space to make working as a maid more efficient.

Last but certainly not least, the project created by Brian Stoeckel brings the Nissan Plein-Aire. The designer imagined the truck for the self-employed landscape painter who needs a vehicle to facilitate all aspects of the work process - from painting to exhibiting.