Nissan’s senior design director speaks with CDN about the long-awaited update to the brand’s signature midsize SUV
The new Nissan Murano recently made its public debut at the Los Angeles Auto Show, along with a host of new Nissan products. It has been a brand mainstay for almost two decades, with a bold and dynamic style in contrast to boxier and strictly functional SUVs.
The outgoing third-generation Murano is largely the same SUV as the Murano of ten years ago. That model, the third generation, has some minor facelifts and improvements, but has aged quite a bit in what has been a decade of great change, with lots of technology and design development.
The fourth-generation Murano was considered for a number of radical changes, including an electric powertrain, but consumer surveys indicated that its buying demographic was not amenable to such a radical change. Much of the R&D was then the transferred to the development of the Ariya, which meant the Murano update would be delayed.
But now it is here, and the Murano boasts a new design with a broader stance and new exterior design and a new, more premium-focussed interior. We spoke with Giovanny Arroba, design director at the Nissan Global Design Center.
Car Design News: Let’s begin by reviewing the history of the Murano and its influence at Nissan.
Giovanny Arroba: The Murano was really unlike the rest of the segment: it took the segment in a new direction. Back then SUVs were a little more functionally oriented and boxier.
The Murano entered the
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