While it’s not available here in the U.S. for some stupid reason, the Nissan Qashqai is a big deal for Nissan over in Europe. It’s sold in Japan and Australia as the Nissan Dualis, but in Europe, the Qashqai name represents Europe’s most popular crossover. It’s so popular, in fact, that when the 500,000th model rolled off the line back in July of 2015, it broke a record for the fastest time a U.K.-built vehicle hit the half-million mark. As such, Nissan decided to up the ante a bit and create a “flagship” model in the form of a limited-production Black Edition model. Based on the Tekna trim level, it represents a $1,200 savings compared to equipping a standard Tekna in the same way. And now, to celebrate the car’s launch, Nissan has commissioned a team of artists to create a life-sized 3D drawing of the Qashqai Black Edition.

Nissan produces 58 examples of the Qashqai per hour at its Sunderland plant in the U.K., but creating the sculpture was no easy task, taking a team of 3D artists a total of 800 man-hours to complete. As the largest 3D sculpture created to date, it measures 14.44 feet long and 5.25 feet high – the exact measurements of the real Qashqai. It took three weeks and an astonishing 8.57 miles of plastic strands to complete, all of which was completed using 3Doodler branded 3D pens.

Grace Du Prez, the lead artist on this project, said, “I’ve been drawing with 3Doodler’s pens for a few years now, but this is by far and away my most ambitious commission to date. It demonstrates how far 3D printing technology has come and how it can be used by anyone.” While the Koji Nagano, the Vice president of Nissan Design Europe, said, “At Nissan we always encourage initiatives where design can be expressed through new and innovative technologies. This artistic team has certainly pushed the boundaries of 3D pen technology in creating an impressive sculpture of our premium Qashqai Black Edition.”

So, now the Nissan Qashqai will officially be produced in 3,361 units, one of which is a plastic 3D sculpture that took a lot of teamwork and time to complete.

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Why it Matters

While this type of project probably won’t bring money to Nissan, it’s a pretty cool way to celebrate its limited-edition flagship model. As the most popular crossover in Europe, creating a 3D sculpture of the Qashqai completely makes sense. I find it crazy that it took more than 800 man hours and more than eight miles of plastic strands, but given the detail, I’m kind of surprised that it didn’t take more than that. Furthermore, the extreme detail of the sculpture just goes to show how far 3D printing has come, and the fact that something like this can be made using a 3D pin is absolutely amazing. I tip my hat to the artists that put this thing together. Definitely a fine piece of work.