New Z car coming next year looks like
 

Hoo boy- another outlet making headlines with that interview from Albaisa. What he said is they'd like to have something to show, which means a concept model. OK- but Nissan has shown several concepts over the years, dating back to my Nissan Sport days. Nissan is testing the waters, nothing more.

If the styling concept generates significant interest AND there's a valid business case to be made (ie, there's enough buyers in whatever segment they choose to compete in), it would still take two years to do a pre-production Z and ramp up production. The BRUTAL TRUTH is the next Z is still years away (if that).

... no.

take a shot

Meh, at worst we'll get a nice drawing. Brutal Truth made good points but enough time and tech has changed that they're interested in playing around with their sport coupe class.

"Playing around" in bringing a production car to life is no longer a possibility. The BRUTAL TRUTH is Nissan will only gamble so far with millions of dollars at stake. Despite a changing market and technology, Nissan will only produce a new Z if a valid business case can be made for production. The Z lacks one at the moment.

The question is, do they really need a new Z? Is the 370Z not selling enough and being profitable? It has been in production so long that R&D is surely paid for and anything now is profit. I guess the reason Nissan may not worry about replacing it is because they know they basically have no competition at that price point? What other sports car with a NA V6, manual gear box for that price on the market? Something which offers a real sport driving instead of just being a computer on wheels? It's the same with the GT-R I guess. It has been in production for a while. So the only advantage for them may be as a halo car. But then they better replace the GT-R instead.

The BRUTAL TRUTH is Nissan doesn't really need a new Z. Has the Z34 sold in BIG numbers? No, it never eclipsed Z33 sales in overall units delivered, despite being on sale for 10 model years. But Nissan, as a full-line car builder, has no downside to continuing to keep the Z34 in the lineup for now. But replacing it? That's another question and one that has no clear answer for now.

As for the flagship question, the GT-R assumed that title back in '09 and rumors are that it'll be replaced in the near term.

Valid point, but if the indication in this article holds true, there's going to be a design team drawing up exterior concepts and envisioning what they can do with the power plant, etc. Playing around in my personal definition doesn't require physically building a car. R&D only costs money as long as Nissan deems it worth investigating, market research included.

If showing concept sketches and the occasional static model floats your boat, then Nissan has you covered. But a real effort to start production of a new Z? That's where I draw the line on these recent articles with the bombastic headlines proclaiming a new Z is in the works.

Allow me to settle this.

As the highly esteemed "Manager of Conceptual Projects", I am currently doing "under wraps testing" of the completed, new 580Z Nismo Dong-AMG, a joint venture project of the Nissan-Renault-Mitsubishi alliance in conjunction with Mercedes, Tata, and Dongfeng. (Try saying that fast five times.)

Despite my having signed an NDA, I think it's a good idea to get a "public perspective" on the new design, so I took the canvas wrap off to shoot an unfiltered, unabashed "spy pic" for you people.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/my350z....b204cfde1a.jpg
Shown here with optional Blose-Mark Levinaki sound system playing.

Looks like you had some inspiration : P


https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/my350z....618f4363fc.png

Don't care. Nissan has already said that if a new Z comes, it'll be a shared platform, like the Z4/Supra. There's also a 95% chance a stick shift won't even be available. Not interested.

I like Mic's concept car more than this one ;)

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/my350z....ee0649e64b.jpg

Hoo boy- that's one of the original styling concepts from the Z33. I'm glad it didn't go in that direction as well!

Funny that it's the opposite case with the Z4 concept last year.
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/my350z....83b0c8c458.jpg

If they would just refresh the looks a bit and add a turbo system, they would sell well. Hell, the could even do a single and dual turbo system. Charge more for the dual system.

All my opinion though.

They did ... it's called a GTR

Yeah yeah, another dated car.