Nissan IDx Freeflow and IDx NISMO

Nissan has revealed a pair of concepts at Tokyo which hint at a possible future compact rear-drive coupe.

Designed mainly at the manufacturer’s studio in Paddington, the dual concepts - the IDx Freeflow and the IDx NISMO - are intended to highlight the potential for personalisation as Nissan strives to engage with a younger buyer.

Despite the obvious (and acknowledged) nods to the stocky Datsun 510, both cars are said to have been styled with the direct input of so-called ‘digital natives’, specifically a generation of customers born after 1990.

Nissan claims this style of engagement with future consumers is now a prerequisite for market success, and is the reason why the brand has sought to distance the concepts as its answer to the Subaru BRZ and Toyota GT86 - cars it describes as ‘mid life crisis’ models.

The Freeflow in particular is a step in a different direction; it's intended more as a lifestyle companion rather than a hard-charging coupe. Nissan envisages it being powered by its 1.2 and 1.5-litre engines that transmit power through a CVT.

Inside, you'll find dramatic highlights and trim that Nissan says is influenced by the pairing of a white T-shirt and khaki chinos.

Inevitably, the Nismo is cut from a different cloth. Half a meter wider than the Freeflow, it features carbon panels and sports a side exhaust, as well as 19-inch wheels. Underneath, the brand proposes its familiar DIG-T turbocharged 1.6-litre petrol engine (again mated to a CVT) as the likely powerplant.

Officially, both IDx machines are show cars in the truest sense, but Nissan insiders suggest that the company is serious about the idea of a compact coupe, and will be closely gauging the public’s reaction.

Read more 2013 Tokyo motor show news.