Detroit show: Nissan to preview 2014 Murano

NISSAN will use the aggressively styled Resonance concept to preview its next-generation of crossover SUVs, including the 2014 Murano, at next week’s Detroit motor show.

The company this week revealed a single, shadowed teaser image of the concept, which hints at a bold, low-roofed design combining a curvaceous nose, prominent shoulder line and wrap-around tail-lights integrated into the rear window.

Details are being kept hush-hush until the full reveal on January 15, but Nissan promises the bold, “envelope-pushing” styling will be paired with a hybrid-electric drivetrain.

The Resonance also appears to share many of its styling cues with the Hi-Cross hybrid concept revealed at the Geneva motor show in March last year.

The Hi-Cross is expected to morph into the 2013 X-Trail, but Nissan previously said that design would also reflect other future crossovers.

The Resonance and Hi-Cross are not the only SUV design concepts Nissan has displayed over the past year, with the company also revealing the chunky, hydrogen-powered Terra at September’s Paris motor show and the Micra-based Extrem high-riding coupe in Sao Paolo in October.

Meanwhile, Nissan has announced it will shift production of the next-generation Murano – which it says will “showcase a progressive crossover design” – from Japan to its Canton facility in the US state of Mississippi.

Since opening in 2003, the Canton plant’s production line-up has grown from one model to seven, including the US-market Altima, Armada large SUV, X-Terra medium SUV, the Titan and Frontier utes and NV light commercials.

The Murano will become the eighth model line from 2014.

It is unclear if any Murano production will continue in Japan – from where Nissan Australia imports the current model, launched here in January 2009.

As we have reported, Nissan Australia is expected to source its next-generation 2013 Pathfinder seven-seater from the US, meaning it could have a duo of North American-produced SUVs from 2014.