Six months ago, Nissan debuted the Nissan IMx concept, a car that was said to embody the brand’s future design language and give a glimpse into the future of personal mobility. And, in all honesty, it may have done that. Well, the brand showed up with a “new” concept called the IMx Kuro, which supposedly has a “completely different personality.” In reality, Nissan slapped a darker color on it, added in a different grille design, and added an extra name. That’s seriously it – Nissan even went so far as to include duplicate images of the interior from the original IMx that debuted in Tokyo.

And the Award for Worst in Show Goes to…. Nissan IMx Kuro

I can’t help but wonder what Nissan’s budget had to be for IMx Kuro concept. $200? Maybe $350. It couldn’t have been much; I tell you that. It’s actually almost insulting that Nissan would even show up with this piece of laziness. Nissan’s Design Team Leader, Alfonso Albaisa, even thinks his team did a good job:

“After the Tokyo Motor Show, my team and I continued to consider the IMx’s potential. Taken all together, these relatively minor changes have combined to give the IMx KURO a completely different personality, and the addition of the KURO moniker reflects that. It looks purposeful and indestructible – which we think is an interesting position for this concept and the application of technologies that is showcased by the vehicle.”

Granted, the concept has all of the cool features like the retractable steering wheel, the flat floor for comfort and even the AI that helps predict driver movements before they happen. The latter, of course, is a little scary, but you know, it’s a cool piece of technology. It’s powered by a pair of motors that deliver 428 horsepower and 516 pound-feet of torque and does have AWD, so it’s got that going for it. But again, it’s all the same stuff that came to Tokyo six months ago.

In the end, it’s not like the brand had a lot of time between Tokyo and Geneva to actually come up with something fresh, but there’s a bit of deception going on here as Nissan is surely trying to boast the Kuro as a revised IMx when it’s really nothing of the sort. Outside of time in the paint booth, the addition of a different grille and application of a new badge probably too all about 30 minutes. And, when you consider the fact that the new grille is a just body-colored panel with zero design effort, even that time spent wasn’t worth it.

Am I butthurt? Yeah, a little bit. Nissan has been rubbing me the wrong way a lot lately. Between dragging on the lifespan of the 370Z, instead of developing a new Z-Car, and the sheer laziness that goes into some of its concepts and special editions, you can bet I’m butthurt. Nissan created the Z-Car. Nissan created Godzilla (the GT-R.) Nissan was once the embodiment of a brand that knew what performance and design were all about. Nissan is better than this.

Step your game up, Nissan.

References

Read our full review on the 2017 Nissan IMx.

Read our full speculative review on the production version 2020 Nissan IMx.

Read more Geneva Motor Show news.

Read more Nissan news.