VIDEO REPORT: The design and details of the new Nissan Murano unveiled in NYC

NEW YORK – The all-new Murano is making its world debut at the 2014 New York International Auto Show. Read more below to see what's featured in the design and details on Nissan's newest entry into the crossover market.

The following is a conversation with Pierre Loing, vice president, Product Planning, Nissan North America and Taro Ueda, vice president, Design, Nissan Design America on the all-new Nissan Murano.

Loing: The first-generation Murano was a design revolution. The second generation capitalized on perceived quality and was more evolutionary. This third generation now we tried to combine a new design revolution but capitalize on the perceived quality, the quality of materials that the second generation (Murano) brought to the market.

Loing: The show car Resonance presented at the Detroit Motor Show last year (2013) looks very much like this vehicle, which created a lot of engineering challenges. The shapes, especially the rear fender, are quiet complex to stamp. But if you were to put the two vehicles side-by-side, they look very much like each other.

Ueda: Starting with this V-motion – and it goes through the body – it is one very dynamic movement from the front. This fender line is a very powerful line that goes through the body and really is a strong flow line. The other movement is coming from the door panel, and having the nice, good stance for the rear-fender area as well.

Loing: What is exception with this vehicle for such a big car is that the Cd is 0.31, which is extremely close to the Nissan 370Z. The seats are derived from the NASA inspired zero gravity seats that were already used in the Nissan Altima and Rogue. For Murano, we went one step further and used those seats in the front and also for the rear seats. The moon roof available on this vehicle compared to the previous generation has increased dramatically in size and in opening. Both have been improved by roughly 30 percent.

Loing: One side of the technology is dedicated toward fuel efficiency, so (with the) V6 3.5-liter Xtronic transmission, fuel economy is improved by roughly 20 percent. Another aspect is entertainment on board with NissanConnect that now operates like a smart phone, basically with apps, with widgets that you can customize. The third aspect of technology is dedicated to safety. This vehicle features the whole suite of Safety Shield technology to create a shield around the vehicle to avoid collisions.

Ueda: Overall this is a very futuristic design. It is more like a spaceship. The inside is a completely different world in luxuries and high tech and aerial feeling. The exterior is very artistic and dynamic and very sophisticated. It is like a future spaceship.

Loing: It looks like a show car, so it makes a statement. You are going to love it every time you look at it. The interior is very well designed, very convenient, very comfortable. The technology is omnipresent without being intrusive. So it is technology that you can operate like a smartphone, and it will protect you as best as it can through the safety shield technologies.

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