There are two especially inviting concepts at Frankfurt; one Japanese and one German. One is about showing off, the other is more about Chinese teenagers. What they have in common are the doors. Massive doors.
When I say massive, I mean it. Forget the i3's suicide doors, or even the biggest doors currently produced by the BMW group. The Nissan Friend-Me and the Opel Monza play in a different league when it comes to inviting passengers.
I didn't know anything about the Nissan Friend-Me until the moment I've stepped into it. After realizing that, apart from the stupid name, it's not a bad concept, I tried to get more info out of the guy wearing a Nissan shirt. He started talking about how the model is wearing the new Nismo watch, so I left.
According to us, this hybrid was designed by Nissan's Chinese studio, and it's all about creating an aura and enjoying the entertainment system together.
I still think it's more about easy access:
The Opel Monza is from a more purposeful breed of concepts.
It was built to show the world (and parent company General Motors within it) that Opel is capable of getting back to the top. To show off their new design language and that they have the technology to back it up.
That's probably the reason why the wood-infused wave of displays on the dash has 18 projectors. But the most important fact you need to know about it that those gullwing doors each weight about 33 pounds.
That's a big door for you.
Photo credit: Máté Petrány/Jalopnik