The Nissan IF was a concept car created not as an official factory project but as the winning entry of Nissan's New Car Concept Contest, a competition held in the autumn of 1987 to encourage creativity among the automaker's employees. Among 76 competing entries, the winning design came from Saneatsu Hashimoto of the body design department at the Nissan Research Center in Atsugi. Hashimoto believed enough enthusiastic Nissan employees existed to help turn his concept into reality, and that conviction proved correct as the IF eventually took physical form.
The concept behind the IF was a two-seat small sports car with a mid-mounted engine and particularly strong handling, conceived as something like a motorcycle on four wheels that retained a direct driving feel while adding comfort and safety. A design team was formed in October 1988 to develop the idea, and a 1:4 scale model followed quickly. After another month of intensive work carried out in employees' spare time, a full-size 1:1 mock-up was ready. By May 1989 a largely finished prototype was presented to a selected internal business audience. In the meantime the team had gathered funding and secured permission to use factory facilities.
As many as 140 employees of the Nissan Technical Center were involved in the project, working out detailed chassis and drivetrain engineering. The floor and frame structure were built entirely from aluminum, while the body, fitted with gullwing doors, enclosed a tight cockpit with seats shaped to fit the driver's body, intended to create a close bond between car and occupant that the designers described as a kind of driving cell. The IF was aimed at young singles or married men described as lovers of sport and fashion. Nissan stated explicitly that there was no intention of putting the car into production, and it appears the prototype was never shown to the public.
Power came from a 930 cc turbocharged and intercooled four-cylinder engine mounted between the seats and the rear axle, the same unit used in the Nissan March/Micra small car. It produced 110 hp at 6400 rpm and 130 Nm of torque at 4800 rpm, giving the 710 kg coupe strong performance for its size. The suspension used double wishbones at the front and a multi-link layout at the rear, with lightweight alloy wheels fitted with disc brakes and Dunlop Formula tires sized 195/50 R15. The car measured 3610 mm long, 1695 mm wide and 1100 mm high, with a 2310 mm wheelbase and a track of 1420/1490 mm.
