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2015 Nissan Murano aims for the style-forward crowd

2015 Nissan Murano aims for the style-forward crowd

Nissan says its 2015 Murano crossover, only the second major revamp of the car since it debuted in 2003, draws its design cues from the “age of future space flight.” That’s probably taking it a little far, but the new Murano, based off the 2013 Resonance concept vehicle, is an exceptionally lovely machine, all fluid, curved metal on the outside, and flowing, soft-touch materials on the inside. Certain kinds of comfort and charms that were unheard-of outside of premium vehicles five years ago have definitely trickled down, and reached a kind of design apotheosis with this car.

That said, it’s still a big crossover that is going to get SUV-levels of fuel economy. At best, its V-6 engine will generate 240 horsepower, and will probably generate higher fuel costs than Nissan would like. Nissan put a lot of effort into this Murano, and it shows, but the manufacturer’s heart is elsewhere.

Nissan is all about the future, or at least talking about the future. Andy Palmer, Nissan’s chief planning officer, again reiterated the company’s plan to produce completely autonomous cars by 2020. Though we didn’t get to out the safety features, it appears that the Murano is going to contain a lot of stepping-stone tech to that fast-approaching evolutionary step.

Much of the press conference at the New York Auto Show, where the Murano made its global debut today, talked about the Murano’s advanced safety features, including the ability to predict hazards two cars ahead. Other available safety and security systems include Moving Object Detection (MOD), Blind Spot Warning (BSW), Predictive Forward Collision Warning (PFCW) and Forward Emergency Braking. The new Cross Traffic Alert (CTA) system use radar to detect a moving vehicle behind the Murano approaching from either side of the parking space.

There was also, considering it was a press conference about a large-ish gas-churning family car, a lot of talk about electric vehicles. Nissan owns 47 percent of the world EV market and has sold 110,000 Leafs worldwide, including 6,000 in the U.S. in March of this year alone. “Crossovers are big now,” Palmer said, “but we predict a time very soon when EVs will become one of the biggest growth segments in the history of the industry.”

From his lips to the ears of autonomous-driving electric-car lovers everywhere. For now, though, Nissan is selling a nice big crossover car with cream-colored fake-wood panelling. That will have to do.