Nissan’s Cube Goes To Art School

Car companies are forever chasing the cool. Each one attempts to attract hip, young buyers to their showrooms by designing rides with crazy, inventive looks and features more tuned into their lifestyle. Toyota’s Scion did it the best when they shipped over their city (and fuel) friendly xA and xB models from Japan and offered their buyers the ability to customize everything from the wheels to the shift knob.

Following suit is Nissan with the Cube. Also a Japanese import, the Cube is a moderately powered, fuel sippin' (you guessed it) cube on wheels. And though the Cube will probably be just as big a hit with the kids as the Scion was, Nissan wanted to prove just how cool they really were by giving two Cubes to eight Pratt Institute grad students to go nuts on. And the results were pretty dope. Check out the two customized models after the jump.

MODEL #1: NIELUS

The Nielus, designed by Kaspar Heinrici, Minos Tzouflas, Diana Thomas and Susan Hasselbrook, “fuses two different stylistic color schemes into one harmonious composition through the aesthetic considerations of hierarchy, proportion, scale, direction and movement.” It took a total of four months to complete. One of the designers even likened the look of the Nielus to the design of a sneaker, with all the different complimentary colors that needed to be used.

MODEL #2: QUAZE

The Quaze, designed by Emily Potter, Tawny Hixson, Yeon Jee, and John Renaud, is the more fashion forward of the two models and is supposed to use the 3D random grid pattern to represent the uneven and complicated streets of Brooklyn. This model took about two months to complete. They laced the interior with a satin like material and funky looking full torso seatbelt vests that they claim are really comfortable.