Nissan News: Rumorpile: Successor to 370Z To Launch in 2020... Maybe

[William Maley]

The fate of the Nissan Z has been up the air for a number of years. One minute, it seems the Z will be killed off. The next, Nissan is figuring out how to keep the Z alive. This brings us neatly to a report from Autocar which says a new Z car is expected in 2020. But after reading this report, we have some questions as to the validity of this information.

According to "senior officials from Nissan," the new Z car has the codename of Z35 and will share a number of components with the Infiniti Q60 Coupe including the rear-drive platform and engines. Using the Q60's platform would make the Z a bit larger - the Q60's length is 17 inches longer and the wheelbase is about a foot longer. 

Power will come from a twin-turbo 3.0L V6 engine from the Q50 and Q60 producing 400 horsepower. There will also be a high-performance NISMO model that will use a re-tuned version of the twin-turbo V6 to produce 475 horsepower and be paired with an all-wheel drive system.

But this report has a huge red flag. 

Quote

Although it's still early days, Autocar understands that Nissan intends to reveal the styling of the new Z car in concept form at the 2018 Tokyo motor show in October. 

 

Emphasis ours. The issue is that there will not be a 2018 Tokyo Moto Show. It is a bi-annual auto show. The last one took place in 2017, meaning the next one will not happen till 2019. This also puts a red flag on the reveal of the production model at the 2019 LA Auto Show.

This report comes a week after another rumor about the Z car was debunked. Japanese site Response reported that Nissan has asked their partner Mercedes-Benz on developing a new Z car. Using a Mercedes-Benz platform, the new Z would be offered with two engines. A 2.0L turbo-four from Mercedes as the base and the twin-turbo V6 from Infiniti. But as Japanese Nostalgic Car notes in their report, "the automotive rumor mill in Japan is like 1990s Motor Trend on crack." The partnership between Nissan and Diamler hit a rough patch earlier this year as Reuters reported that Infiniti would not use Mercedes' MFA2 modular platform due to cost issues. The new QX50 which was supposed to be the Infiniti vehicle to use this new platform would instead use its own unique platform.

Motor Trend would deliver the final nail in the coffin of this rumor. According to their sources, Mercedes and Nissan did talk about the possibility of working together on a new platform that would be shared between the Z and SLC roadster. But these talks reportedly went nowhere. Also, Mercedes is planning to kill off the SLC once production of the current model ends.

We know that Nissan does want to keep the Z alive from comments made by Philippe Klein, Nissan's chief planning officer back in January.

Quote

"The Z is a difficult market. It is rather shrinking worldwide. But we still believe there is a place for the Z and we want to keep it alive, and that's what we're working on," said Klein to Automotive News at the Detroit Auto Show earlier this month.

"That's for the midterm. For the long term, there are other considerations. If we do a complete new vehicle, what should it be to keep the passion alive? And we're working very seriously on this — how we can keep the Z alive and refreshing and what would be the next generation?"

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As of right now, your guess is as good as ours.

Source: Autocar

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[Frisky Dingo]

[David]

Z should limp along till they can move it to a new EV platform.

[ocnblu]

4 hours ago, dfelt said:

Z should limp along till they can move it to a new EV platform.

But... they already have one red hot electric sports car, and it's a DOOZY.  Hold onto your hat! 

[David]

1 hour ago, ocnblu said:

But... they already have one red hot electric sports car, and it's a DOOZY.  Hold onto your hat! 

Such an Ostrich with his head in the sand!  

[riviera74]

4 hours ago, ocnblu said:

But... they already have one red hot electric sports car, and it's a DOOZY.  Hold onto your hat! 

1) What Nissan is that?

2) Why would ANY potential Z buyer choose this hybrid over another Z?

3) That is not a Nissan Leaf.  What is the case for this car over a Leaf?

[David]

46 minutes ago, riviera74 said:

1) What Nissan is that?

2) Why would ANY potential Z buyer choose this hybrid over another Z?

3) That is not a Nissan Leaf.  What is the case for this car over a Leaf?

LOL, Actually that is the all new Generation 2.0 Nissan Leaf EV.

@ocnblu Hates all things EV or Hybrid. Wants the world to stay static for ever in his one moment in time!

This was his response to me keeping the current Z going forward till Nissan gets out their new Global Modular Platform that will carry ICE/EV/Hybrid. I stated keep the Z alive as is with updates till they can roll out a 300 mile range EV-Z.  

[daves87rs]

Hmmm...makes me wonder if the could have a Z edition of the Leaf....that could be interesting....

[loki]

why not return to it's roots and use the new VC turbo engine and make another...260(ish)Z? 

[David]

1 hour ago, loki said:

why not return to it's roots and use the new VC turbo engine and make another...260(ish)Z? 

I would rather they return the to R33 or R34 roots and introduce a REAL SKYLINE to the US!

[Robert Hall]

13 minutes ago, dfelt said:

I would rather they return the to R33 or R34 roots and introduce a REAL SKYLINE to the US!

The current generation Skyline is sold in the US now, it's just badged as an Infiniti...(Q50/Q60).   

Edited March 21, 2018 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[oldshurst442]

53 minutes ago, Cubical-aka-Moltar said:

The current generation Skyline is sold in the US now, it's just badged as an Infiniti...(Q50/Q60).   

True. But those and so-called Godzilla aint exactly what "real" Skylines are all about. 

Godzilla tries to pass off as such, and the Teriyaki and Sushi rice burner boy fan club likes to think so

 

 

But nope! 

Godzilla is an artificial, Playstation/Nintendo/X Box  like muscle car.

Those Infiniti cars are GORGEOUS, but they got no bite. 

Metrosexual like if we are gonna go the Skyline replacement route for them. 

A tad better than what the late 70s and 3rd gen Camaros were in relative to what originated.  But on the same level...ie. Shadow of their former selves! 

 

 

[Robert Hall]

Of the vintage Skyline GT-Rs, I like the KPGC110 mid 70s generation and the R32. 

[oldshurst442]

I have 3 models that I like.

The very 1st one that I saw in a Car and Driver mag and they tested a Corvette C4 that was legally transformed to be driven in Japan and the R33.

Then a few years went by I learned about the successor to the R33....the R34. I preferred the R33 but I was into the R34 as well.

Then the internet happened in my household and I researched its history when I fell in love with the 3rd gen Skyline. The generation  just before the one you like.

 

Edited March 21, 2018 by oldshurst442

[Robert Hall]

I have a few Skylines of various generations in my 1/24th kit stash.  

[balthazar]

I never got the Skyline love. Performance aside (and actually I'm not up on how well they did), they were always stylistically dated approximations of earlier muscle cars to my eye. Seems like datsun/nissan felt a chin spoiler was the cure-all for any generic family pod.

[David]

17 minutes ago, balthazar said:

I never got the Skyline love. Performance aside (and actually I'm not up on how well they did), they were always stylistically dated approximations of earlier muscle cars to my eye. Seems like datsun/nissan felt a chin spoiler was the cure-all for any generic family pod.

Considering I lived in Japan for 3 1/2 years while going to college and I stayed with a Host family that had a son going to Kobe University like me and was spoiled with very nice toy's, I also got spoiled being able to drive his cars and bikes and loved it. Once you drive a Skyline and see how dialed in they are, you cannot help but love them.

Skyline is the pony car of Japan.

[oldshurst442]

4 hours ago, Cubical-aka-Moltar said:

I have a few Skylines of various generations in my 1/24th kit stash.  

I never knew you had such a collection!

NICE! 

[oldshurst442]

4 hours ago, balthazar said:

they were always stylistically dated approximations of earlier muscle cars

PRECISELY!

THAT is why I like them!

And the performance of course.

They are good looking cars. They have to performance to back up the bravado talks of their owners.  They could EASILY be tuned for MORE performance. 

They have a history that is EQUALLY interesting as our very own muscle cars!

Dfelt called them pony cars...

I see them as a tad more than pony cars. I see them as their version of the American Muscle car.

The Skyline did begin from family car intentions.  And grew to be its own model... 

Plus if Im not mistaken....the early Skylines were cheap speed. EXACTLY like how the muscle cars began!

 

[Robert Hall]

7 minutes ago, oldshurst442 said:

I never knew you had such a collection!

NICE! 

I've dabbled in building and collecting model kits (and die cast) since childhood.  I've got the latest releases, as well as kits that are 60 yrs old in my collection.   I have a spare bedroom full of them in my house and more in my storage unit.