Toyko Motor Show 2011 Nissan Pivo 3 turns the strange to 11

Every Tokyo Motor Show, Nissan shows up with some kind of wackadoodle pod car named Pivo that twirls around the stage, blinks its lights then promptly disappears. This year’s Pivo 3 keeps the tradition alive, but what does it say about the world that such a concept seems more realistic than ever?

Yes, even Nissan is not going to build a 1+2 seat electric runabout driven by an airplane yoke with four-wheel steering that can turn within a four-meter space. But the Pivo 3 looks far more like an actual city car than its predecessors, which resembled something Pikachu might hop from.

And the most realistic aspect might be the Pivo 3’s advances in self-parking; in addition to traditional parallel parking, the Pivo 3 can guide itself into a parking space and connect to a recharger, then unplug and return on command. What, did someone at Nissan have a bad incident with a valet and a GT-R?