“Join us on February 2 to see what happens when virtual becomes physical,” says a new teaser on Nissan’s YouTube page. The image indicates that we’re about to see the next step in the Japanese automaker’s electrification plans. And from everything we’re seeing it looks like a real-life version of the digital-only Max-Out sports car concept from 2021. The conclusion of the YouTube teaser says that we can expect to “Discover how our latest concept car takes zero emissions mobility to the max!” so there’s little doubt as to what sort of powertrain the car will have. There’s also no reason to think that it’s something other than the Max-Out concept since we can see it in the shot.
What’s most interesting is that it looks
like a real person is getting out of the car. Back in 2021, this was a digital
design study only with no physical representation. Now, the image combined with
the text on screen seems to make it obvious that Nissan could have grander
plans for the concept. That itself isn’t too shocking considering how it’s
committed more than $10 billion dollars towards EV development over the next
five years. That’s in addition to the billions it’s already spent on research,
development, and products like the Ariya.
At the same time, we don’t really expect Nissan to fast-track the
Max-Out to production.
When it first introduced it in 2021,
Nissan associated it with a dual-motor AWD setup and a combined output of about
304 hp and 680 Nm of torque. While that sounds like a lot
of fun, Nissan already has some bigger fish to fry regarding the Z and the
GT-R. Adding an all-new production EV sports car doesn’t feel like something
that it has the bandwidth to do.
Nevertheless, we’re excited to see
whatever it has to share on February 2nd at 10 a.m. in Japan. For all of those
here in the USA, that’s actually 8 p.m. CST on February 1st. The entire event
will be live-streamed on YouTube for the world to see.
