From Frontier Pro to Terrano: the young designer shaping Nissan's next ideas

When Lei Boyang arrived at Nissan Design China as an intern, he was still learning what it meant to work as a professional automotive designer.

At university, Boyang had been used to spending a long time perfecting a single sketch. Every line mattered. But inside a professional design studio, the challenge was different. Designers had to explore many possibilities quickly, explain the thinking behind them and work with people from different disciplines to make an idea stronger.

That shift, from polishing one drawing alone to developing ideas with a team, would shape Boyang's journey at Nissan. It would also help take his work further than he expected: from exterior proposals for the Nissan Frontier Pro concept car to a key design role on the Terrano PHEV concept.

For Boyang, Frontier Pro was not only a major project. It was proof that a young designer's idea could help shape a vehicle for the global stage.

At the beginning of the Frontier Pro project, each designer developed a proposal for an internal design competition. Boyang's sketch was selected from among many ideas because it captured both the toughness expected of a pickup and classic Nissan design cues. For a vehicle planned to move from China to the world, that balance mattered. The proposal showed how a young designer in China could contribute a fresh point of view to Nissan’s global pickup design language.

But being selected was only the beginning. The real challenge was turning a two-dimensional sketch into a vehicle people could actually see, touch and experience. Boyang's front-end idea was built around two strong vertical headlights, inspired by the structural strength of a body-on-frame pickup. He also looked back at classic Nissan pickups, extracting the three air-intake elements and evolving them into three independent illuminated details. Together, these elements created a face that felt strong, modern and connected to Nissan's heritage.

His aim was to design more than a cold machine. Through details such as the gun-gray lower bumper and functional exterior elements, Boyang wanted Frontier Pro to combine pickup strength, a sense of fashion and the latest technology. In his mind, every line should make the vehicle feel like a warm explorer: reliable, adventurous, and immediately inviting.

That same idea continued inside the cabin. Warm gray tones, inspired by desert rock layers shaped by wind and sand, gave the interior a solid and calm foundation. Yellow accents brought in the warmth and vitality of a sunset over the Gobi Desert, while titanium details suggested both technological precision and bold innovation. The result was an interior designed to feel ready for outdoor exploration while still offering comfort, quietness and a premium sense of ease.

An internship turned an ambition that once felt distant into real project experience.

Boyang's interest in automotive design started with a simple impression. As a student, he watched car designers sketching bold, forward-looking vehicles and thought the profession looked exciting. Nissan Design China, however, seemed prestigious and almost out of reach.

That changed when he got the opportunity to join Nissan Design China as an intern. Soon after joining, Boyang was invited to contribute ideas to a concept-car project. For the first time, his sketches were considered for a real Nissan vehicle.

The biggest early challenge is knowing when to stop refining and keep exploring.

As a student, Boyang had been used to polishing each sketch until it felt complete. In the studio, he learned that early ideas do not need to be perfect, they need to open up possibilities.

Senior colleagues showed him how to separate ideation from refinement. First, use simple, confident lines to capture the core idea. Then, once the direction is clear, improve the surfaces and details.

The lesson changed more than his drawing speed. It helped Boyang become more comfortable sharing unfinished ideas, listening to feedback and allowing a design to evolve through discussion.

Outside work, road trips and camping give Boyang a library of shapes, materials and practical ideas that can later influence vehicle design. The depth of rock formations, the openness of distant horizons, the character of rugged landscapes and the practicality of camping equipment all serve as sources of inspiration.

During the Terrano show-car project, Boyang's proposal was selected and retained through the final stage.

The Terrano project gave Boyang the opportunity to apply what he had been learning. His proposal established the main exterior idea: a square and stable stance, strong horizontal lines and wide shoulders.