The Nissan Saurus was a

concept car A concept car (also known as a concept vehicle or show vehicle) is a car made to showcase new styling or new technology. Concept cars are often exhibited at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or may not ...

Nissan is a Japanese multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the ''Nissan'' and ''Infiniti'' brands, and formerly the ''Datsun'' brand, with in-house ...

Motor and unveiled at the 1987

Tokyo Motor Show The , called (TMS) until 2023, is a biennial auto show held in October–November at the Tokyo Big Sight, Tokyo, Japan for cars, motorcycles and commercial vehicles. Hosted by the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA), it is a recog ...

."In the distant past, Nissan has done a couple of similar stark, Lotus-style concepts (the Saurus from the 1987 Tokyo Show and Duad, from Tokyo 1991, for those with long memories)...
Preview: 2006 Nissan Urge
December 28, 2005 Channel 4"Japanese market's tastes make car names a different animal" "For example, Nissan Motors' racy sports car, sold in the United States under the ..." "One example is Nissan's prototype roadster called Saurus, which the ..." Feb 5, 1989 Chicago Tribune It was a roadster featuring a 2.0-liter

turbocharged In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (also known as a turbo or a turbosupercharger) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake air, forcing more air into the ...

engine, with bulging fenders and a design reminiscent of the

Lotus Seven The Lotus Seven is a sports car produced by the British manufacturer Lotus Cars (initially called Lotus Engineering) between 1957 and 1973. The Seven is an open-wheel car with two seats and an open top. It was designed by Lotus founder Colin Ch ...

. Nissan marketed the Saurus as part of a pair along with the Jura

minivan Minivan (sometimes called simply a van) is a car classification for vehicles designed to transport passengers in the rear seating row(s), with reconfigurable seats in two or three rows . The equivalent classification in Europe is MPV (multi-p ...

concept, introduced as a practical complement to the roadster. This approach was very radical for the Japanese market where space for two automobiles was unrealistic for most, so it was safely assumed the Saurus concept was never meant to see production.

Impact

The Saurus concept made its way into production in a modified form by Nissan's

Nismo , abbreviated as Nismo, is a division of Nissan Motorsports & Customizing focused in motorsport and performance-oriented car models for Nissan. Nismo was initially a company, , formed in 1984 as a result of a merger of two motorsport departmen ...

, Nissan's motor sports division. The Saurus Cup race series debuted 1989 using the Nissan Saurus Jr., a race car version of the Saurus. The series featured single seater

sheet metal Sheet metal is metal formed into thin, flat pieces, usually by an industrial process. Thicknesses can vary significantly; extremely thin sheets are considered foil (metal), foil or Metal leaf, leaf, and pieces thicker than 6 mm (0.25 ...

tub race cars with fiberglass molded bodies replicating the Saurus concept. The car was also used for Nissan Racing School. The successor to the Saurus race car, the Nissan Saurus Jr., is still used for advanced racing classes today. The twin-charged engine of the Saurus made its way into production in 1989 through the March/Micra Super Turbo. The

Nissan Urge The Nissan URGE is a concept targa top sports car that debuted at the 2006 North American International Auto Show. Referred to as a "design exercise," many of the car's design elements were influenced by an internet survey aimed towards young au ...

has been compared to the Saurus.

References

Saurus Cars introduced in 1987 {{Modern-auto-stub