Nissan is open to collaborations with other manufacturers for the successors of the 370Z and GT-R sportscars but they affirm they will not give up brand heritage.
Apart from regular family cars and SUVs, Nissan also has two rather sensational sports cars up their sleeve – the 370Z and the GT-R. Now, Nissan is planning on the successors to both the 370Z and the GT-R and they are open to electrification and outside collaborations in their creation.
At the Tokyo Motor Show, Nissan product planning boss Ivan Espinosa spoke about the two sportscars, saying, “They are at the heart of Nissan and we are actively looking at and working on them.” Although he didn’t talk about any specifics, he further added, “I can’t share what but that doesn’t mean we’re not working on them. Nissan is about exciting cars.”
The 370Z and the GT-R, both have been around in their present guise for more than a decade now. As a matter of fact, there are now fewer and fewer manufacturers in the sportscar segment and those that are, have increasingly resorted to collaborations. On that note, Espinosa has said that they are open to collaboration with other manufacturers who make sportscars as he recognizes that business cases for individually developed products would be quite challenging for them.
“There are no golden rules and we are particularly open,” he said. “There are some elements you can’t play with, as these are brand icons. There is a limit to what you can share and have in common, with expectations not to go beyond what customers expect from a brand. There are challenges and difficulties that will force us outside to look at different options; but they are important to us.”
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With most cars going electric these days, Espinosa has said that Nissan is currently discussing the potential for the next-gen 370Z to go electric. They are yet to arrive on a decision about that but they did question whether traditional sportscar-buyers are ready to go electric. Speaking separately at the event, Nissan’s senior Vice-President for design, Alfonso Albaisa, said that the firm will never abandon its Z-car heritage.
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He said, “It’s easy to imagine [a successor to the 370Z]. The Z is the car that democratised sportscars back in the ’60s. Before that, you had to have the money to buy a Porsche or Jaguar. The current car has been a long time in the dealerships and so you can imagine the designers working on a successor, even if I am not going to confirm it.”
