Say hello to the Nissan IMs Concept

This year’s Detroit Motor Show isn’t all about the new Toyota Supra, though we’d forgive you for thinking so. There’s the normal smattering of pie-in-the-sky concepts too, like this one from Nissan.

It’s an “elevated sports sedan” called the IMs - elevated because its EV powertrain, which features twin electric motors and a 115kWh battery for 483bhp, 590lb ft and 380 miles of range, lives under the floor, thus increasing the ride-height.

Nissan says the design was inspired by some of its most successful models, which all had relatively simple silhouettes. Here highlights include suicide-doors and holographic taillights. Far from the most extreme concept car we’ve seen, but a smart, restrained take nonetheless.

Autonomy features, naturally. The IMs has both manual and autonomous drive modes, and an interior that moves about to accommodate. The steering wheel, for example, motors back into the dashboard when it’s not needed. Meanwhile the head- and tail-lights blink and change colour to let pedestrians know it’s self-driving.

The big thing inside though is the “Premier Seat” - a individual first-class seat deployed when the two outer rear seats are folded away. Coming to your local Uber Lux in, ooh, 50 years or so. Possibly. Elsewhere inside you get “invisible to visible” tech that lets you quite literally see around corners, among other things. It can even let you ride with an imaginary, virtual passenger in the form of an augmented-reality avatar.

At the same press conference Nissan announced plans to launch seven more EVs by 2022. This will probably not be one of them.