Nissan Bringing One-Off Vehicles to SEMA

This year’s SEMA Show in Las Vegas is coming up fast, so you know there will be a rush of breathless PR about the rigs being hauled to the desert by manufacturers for this soirée. Nissan is getting into the game with a couple of concepts – one of which is inspired by cars used in a spec-racing series north of the border.

But we’ll start with the Project Rugged Rogue, a machine that said ‘yes’ to an entire catalog of accessories and add-ons including a 3-inch suspension lift and Yokohama Geolandar mud-terrain tires. The roof rack and front bumper guard are described as prototypes, meaning they could be closer to something resembling an eventual item in the parts department than the custom fender flares and rear spoiler. Our own Chris Teague wisely pondered the suitability of a CVT for real off-road duty, while this author will muse that a dual-exit center exhaust rudely scuppers the chance of towing anything. Still, if this is a prelude to some sort of Rogue Rock Creek trim, we’re sure they’ll sell an adequate number worth mentioning.

Oddly titled the Sentra DET Concept (translating to “dual-overhead cam, electronic fuel injection, turbo”), the compact sedan gets an injection of speed inspired by the Sentra Cup spec-racing series in Canada. A turbocharged 2.0-liter engine is under the hood, mated to a six-speed manual and breathing through a prototype stainless-steel Nismo exhaust. Its coilover suspension featuring twin-tube shocks is described as a prototype, not custom. Whilst we feel the more recent SE-R or SE-R Spec V moniker would have been appropriate, the company points out DET once appeared on historic rigs like the 180SX and Pulsar GTI-R.

Also showing up at the Nissan stand at SEMA this year will be the Frontier off-road race truck once piloted by Chris Forsberg, developed by Forsberg Racing and blasted through rigors found in the NORRA 500 marathon. If you’re keeping track at home, Chris Forsberg and Yokohama teammate, Leticia Bufoni, entered this year’s race in the stock production class and took home the first-place win in the category.

This year’s SEMA Show will be held from October 31 – November 3 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

[Images: Nissan]

Become a TTAC insider. Get the latest news, features, TTAC takes, and everything else that gets to the truth about cars first by  subscribing to our newsletter.