Nissan Pivo

The 2005 Tokyo Auto Show is coming, and it's stream of bizarre and useless vehicles is already being unveiled.

This concept from Nissan may appear to be an egg timer on wheels, but it's actually a car. Besides being fugly, it promises "an innovative cabin that revolves 360 degrees, eliminating the need to reverse" - the logistics of which are mind-boogling. Just because the cabin can rotate doesn't mean that you still don't have to put the car into motion using a gear that propels the car in the opposite direction. And if the engine is stationary, you'd need multiple gears for each direction (unlike the typical 5 forward gears and one reverse). Unless the engine and drivetrain somehow detach with the cabin and rotate with it, reattaching in the opposite direction (which seems needlessly complicated). So far I've found no information on how this is done.

And if you thought the car itself was trippy enough, just look at their anime style promotional material. Super fun happy car.


* Sidenote - I just realized this looks exactly like an egg timer on wheels. It even has the timing measurements on the bottom of the cab!