I love seeing new concept cars.  This one especially peaked my interest because it is a Nissan product.  I’ve been sitting on these photos for some time as this car was released at the 2009 Geneva Auto Show.   Nissan is going to be taking the Infiniti brand name to Europe for the first time and was looking to make a splash with the “Essence” concept.

The drivetrain of the Essence concept is what intrigues me the most so far.  Power comes from a twin turbo’d, direct fuel injection, 3.7L V6 that has been paired with a newly designed electric motor called the ‘3D Motor.’

Infiniti press release excerpt:

Essence previews a new type of electric motor, called 3D Motor, that was designed to meet tough requirements on size and power output. The result is a particularly slim, disk-shaped motor that has twice the torque of a conventional unit. Its design was achieved by 3D magnetic field analysis to optimize the layout of the electromagnetic coils and permanent magnets.

In Essence, the motor is positioned between the engine and transmission and provides 160PS (158bhp), drawing power from a compact lithium-ion battery pack in the boot area. Because the 3D Motor operates in both propulsion and power regeneration modes, the battery pack is kept charged up.

With the 3D Motor putting out 158hp, and the 3.7L V6 putting out 434hp, the Essence nears the 600hp mark at the crankshaft.  I’ll take two please.

The exterior design is that of a very liquid and flowing 2 door coupe/hatch.  I can’t help but think that there is some sort of homage paid to the early Z Car with the sloping hatch and C-pillar design, call me crazy.  In the end I really like the design and execution of the Essence and I wouldn’t be surprised if we started to see some of this technology and a few of these design cues in forth-coming Infiniti models.  Traditionalists may not approve, Rob, but that’s why it’s a concept.

I would like to thank Autoblog.com for the photos and some of the info on the Essence concept.  If you would like to read the entire press release make sure that you click the link below to the Autoblog post.

Autoblog.com Infiniti Essence Concept post