Hollywood, California - Nissan’s latest Star Wars show car will make its public debut on the red carpet at the world premiere of “Solo: A Star Wars” story this evening.
And since the film focuses on the back story of Han Solo and his copilot, Chewbacca the Wookie, it’s inspired by Solo’s iconic Millennium Falcon, with unmistakable styling cues from the most stylish ship in the galaxy.
The show car is based on a Nissan Rogue - which is essentially a US-spec X-Trail, with a 127kW, 2.5-litre petrol four driving the front wheels via a constantly variable transmission.
For its most ambitious Star Wars show car yet, Nissan started with the designers at Lucasfilm and Industrial Light and Magic, who design all the vehicles and weapons you see in the Star Wars films, and took their drawings to Dennis McCarthy at Vehicle Effects in Burbank, California, who specialises in creating custom vehicles for the movies - including the Fast and Furious franchise.
The exterior of the show car is covered in handmade aluminium panels with 3D-printed details from the Millennium Falcon, complete with roof-mounted radar dish and laser cannon. The multi-panel windshield is pure Falcon, as is the subspace-hyperdrive unit that glows blue across the rear of the car - along with three high-mounted Bose speakers and an 45cm Bose subwoofer, powered by a 1500 watt Bose audio system.
The Millenium Rogue is mechanically standard, so we can’t vouch for it that it will do the Kessel run in 12 parsecs, but it will certainly sound like it.
Nevertheless, it’s inside where the attention to detail is most impressive. This is the first Nissan Star Wars show car that’s had a full interior makeover as well, with controls, lights and sound effects closely reflecting the sights and sounds of the Millennium Falcon’s cockpit, including front and second-row seats just like those aboard the Corellian vessel and centre-mounted hyperdrive controls.
The latest episode in the Star Wars story tells how the young Han Solo met Chewbacca and became involved with the notorious gambling kingpin Lando Calrissian, eventually becoming the owner of Calrissian’s custom-modified Corellian freighter, the Millenium Falcon - the fastest ship in the galaxy.