The zombie apocalypse (or any other kind of world-ending event for that matter) is always a top priority item on the list of any doomsday prepper. A key piece of equipment is a rugged vehicle that can traverse the barren wasteland that was once filled with waves of humanity. Nissan thinks it has the answer for the Burt Gummers of the world (Tremors is still our favorite sci-fi franchise) with the Nissan Disaster Support Mobile-Hub as well as a small army of other concepts ready to appeal to a wide range of consumer tastes.
Size Does Not Matter In This Rugged Nissan Van
One of the immediate things that show attendees will notice is that the company didn’t choose to make its disaster-themed transport around a bigger model like the Nissan Armada or the Titan pickup. Instead, the company chose to use the diminutive Caravan for this purpose and while it may look small on the outside, this little van still aims to make a big impact. The exterior styling is reflective of its status as a Kei offering, but Nissan gave it a bold black and orange paint job with prominent lettering as well as a side-mounted ladder to allow operators to access the roof. Chunky all-terrain tires help the van get to places off the beaten path and a roof-mounted lighting system helps improve visibility at night.
Nissan’s own drawings suggest that several portions of the van can slide out while the rear has a small ramp to help facilitate access to the rear. However, the main calling card here is the van’s mobile power station which uses battery packs that were actually repurposed from old Nissan Leaf EVs to not only help power equipment in the van itself, but also portable gear and other life-saving equipment needed in case of a disaster.
What Else Is Nissan Bringing To The Tokyo Auto Salon?
In addition to the Disaster-Hub, Nissan is also bringing a small army of other custom vehicles to the event. There are so many in fact that we had to narrow the list down to a few other highlights that caught our attention when scrolling through Nissan’s vehicle roster.
Triple The Nismo, Triple The Fun
Nissan’s Nismo performance arm will be represented by three performance models with the Nissan GT-R Nismo continuing to be the flagship model. The other two models: the Skyline Nismo and the Fairlady Z Nismo offer an alternative angle on performance with the Fairlady Z being roughly the same as the Z Nismo that will be going on sale here in the U.S. market soon with the Fairlady featuring the same aero and engine tweaks as U.S. spec Z models. The Skyline Nismo is tailored towards the Japanese home market, and the model also gets Nismo exclusive upgrades that allegedly sharpen it into the ultimate GT car. While the Skyline itself is not for sale here in the U.S. it’s available in the form of the Infiniti Q50 with the luxury brand serving as the home of rebadged Skylines for the past few decades.
X-Trail Crawler Concept Rock Crawls Its Way To The Off-Road World
Meanwhile, the Nissan X-Trail (Rogue here in our country) is transformed into a rock-crawling showpiece with the SUV getting a raised suspension, chunky off-road tires, and a large lightbar to help illuminate challenging obstacles at night. Unlike the rest of the concepts that Nissan teased for the Salon, it’s keeping this one hidden in a veil of shadows indicating that the company expects this one to be one of the show stealers at their display booth. Nissan also confirmed that the concept’s luggage area will have the tools that X-Trail owners have always wanted, though it stopped far short of revealing what these tools are exactly.
A Rolling Menu For Any Meal
The last concept that caught our attention was this customized build that’s based on the March (aka Micra) Kei car. Nissan claims that it wanted to appeal to the lives of young buyers especially those that find their career vocation in life. In this case, the concept is tailored toward the needs of an aspiring pastry chef and while it looks largely unchanged, Nissan designers added extensive wooden elements to the car while the rear windows have a menu written on them for interested customers to look over and read.
The rear incorporates a small refrigerator and the top doubles as a durable cooking space. The concept’s small size makes it a good fit for a young chef especially when they have to navigate the narrow streets and alleyways that often hide some of Japan’s best restaurants (including a few hidden gems that you have to ask the locals about to find them.)
These concepts and more will make their official debut at the 2024 Tokyo Auto Salon next month but for folks looking to get a glimpse early we have prepared a small photo gallery which can be seen below.
Carl Malek has been an automotive journalist for over 10 years. First starting out as a freelance photographer before making the transition to writing during college, his work has appeared on numerous automotive forums as well as websites such as Autoshopper.com.
Carl is also a big fan of British vehicles with the bulk of his devotion going to the Morgan Motor Company as well as offerings from Lotus, MG, and Caterham. When he is not writing about automobiles, Carl enjoys spending time with his family and friends in the Metro Detroit area, as well as spending time with his adorable pets.