The one-bite steak au poivre and microburgers were circulated at Chelsea’s Skylight West Studios in Manhattan on Thursday evening, as Nissan North America showcased its 2011 Murano CrossCabriolet to a handful of journalists. Keeping company with the new crossover convertible were the 2011 Quest minivan and Ellure concept, all of which bowed at November’s Los Angeles auto show.
In fact, the Murano in New York was the same vehicle that was in Los Angeles, down to its Caribbean blue-metallic paint and cashmere-colored leather appointments — this color being one of the very few interior options available, at $550. Spotlit from the gallery rafters, the all-wheel-drive droptop sparkled like the slice of Marina-del-Rey-on-Hudson it was.
While photos of the CrossCabriolet serve to emphasize its otherness — or, less charitably, its awkwardness — beholding the vehicle in person places it in an identifiable context: that of somewhat bulbous boulevard cruisers like the Lexus SC 430 and Volvo C70.
Adam O’Shaughnessy, a marketing manager for Nissan North America, said that the brand’s idealized customer would cross-shop the $46,390 CrossCabriolet against those two models, as well as the BMW 328i convertible. The Nissan’s all-wheel-drive system and high ground clearance would offer points of differentiation.
Amid that company, the CrossCabriolet would still be a dark horse. But with Caribbean paint and proper lighting, at least it might be the most lustrous.
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