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The Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet has lived an abrupt and curious life. Four years after the debut of the second generation of the standard Murano, the decision to cut the roof off the Murano crossover seemingly came out of nowhere, shocking both the automotive media and consumers. About 10 years after its cancellation, we now know how the concept for this original open-top crossover came to be.

Marketed as the world’s first all-wheel-drive convertible crossover, the Murano CrossCabriolet was initially introduced at the 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show, entered production for the 2011 model year, and was released gracefully in 2014. The CrossCabriolet was ostensibly a standard Murano, packing the standard 3.5-liter V6 making 245 horsepower and 246 lb-ft of torque, but with the roof completely absent.

“Does the new Murano CrossCabriolet answer a question no one asked? Or should we congratulate Nissan for doing something truly different? Only time and the number of customer orders will tell.” Road and track Patrick Hong wrote in 2011.

However, this headless oddity didn’t appear out of nowhere. It’s no secret that moving from concept car to production model usually requires lengthy bureaucracy, but the time frame from idea to reality has been accelerated in the case of the Murano CrossCabriolet, according to a source within from Nissan. That’s because the convertible crossover is actually the brainchild of Carlos Ghosn— the former Nissan CEO wanted by Interpol who was arrested in Tokyo in 2018 on charges related to allegedly misusing company funds for his personal benefit and underreporting his compensation, then later I fled the country in a crate…and his family.

A source at Nissan recently confirmed the long-standing rumor to R&T. As the story goes, Ghosn’s wife at the time, Rita Kordahi, drove a Murano and had expressed interest in having an outdoor experience in an otherwise practical car. Ghosn, who reigned in Eccentric CEO at Nissan for 16 years, he then joined the product planning and engineering teams at Nissan and gave them about two years to design, prototype and produce the drop-top crossover. Notably, this request came in the midst of a second generation that apparently had no intention of becoming convertible otherwise.

Shiro Nakamura, then Nissan’s chief creative officer, corroborated part of the story at Automotive trend in 2011, claiming that Ghosn was the instigator of the project.

“He came up with the idea three years ago. The sketches looked promising, so we continued. Murano is a high-end product, and with this version we were targeting a wealthy and elderly clientele,” Nakamura said to Automotive trend.

“Typically, a vehicle like this would never have made it past the first planning meeting,” a Nissan official told Automotive Week Mark Vaughn in 2011. “Mr. Ghosn liked it.”

It wasn’t exactly easy to build either. Nissan engineers told reporters that the Murano’s structure and body had to be completely redesigned from the engine down. Rigidity was obviously an issue when removing the roof completely and the results were still pretty, according to reviews at the time. The publications were wallowing, flimsy and impractical, as the lack of a B-pillar and the disappearing trunk significantly reduced structural rigidity and cargo space.

“It is Athena, goddess of wisdom and reason, who perceives that the CrossCabriolet has limits. ‘Just as the hero Achilles had his heel,’ she said, ‘so the CrossCabriolet has a chest of modesty. When the top is down, there’s only eight cubic feet. It’s a sport utility without sport or utility. It’s a crossover that goes where form has no relation to function. R&T editor-in-chief John Pearley Huffman wrote For Car and driver 2011.

The result of such a gamble was around 6,000 units produced, with sales peaking in 2012 at 3,728 units in the United States. The Murano CrossCab was priced at least $5,000 more than its hardtop sibling, starting at around $45,000. . While the model was phased out in 2014, Nissan announced that there would be no replacement for the convertible crossover. Still, the courage it took to build such a unique type of vehicle represented the bygone era of Nissan under Ghosn and perhaps even inspired some convertible SUVs that followed, like the Range Rover Evoque convertible.

Above all, we can’t forget that it’s the same strong-willed and demanding executive leadership under Ghosn that brought back the GT-R and continued the Fairlady lineage with the 370Z, even if the jury is still out on whether that enthusiastic value is worthy forgiveness from above. Either way, the rounded and unfit Murano CrossCabriolet isn’t one any of us will soon forget, and it seems we have Ms. Kordahi to thank for that.

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