Fresh Nissan Z to go targa, hybrid
Nissan’s next-generation Z sports car will embrace targa and hybrid tech
Nissan’s Z series of sports cars is legendary not just in Japan, but North America and Australia too.
The original Datsun 240Z, as the export version was known, tipped the sports car world upside down when it debuted in one thousand nine hundred sixty nine with its unprecedented combination of excellent looks, reasonable pricetag, a powerful engine and zippy treating.
Now coming in its seventh generation, the all-new Z35 – as it will be called – promises more of the same acute looks and good treating, but will also bring smaller yet more powerful engines with Mercedes-Benz technology thrown in for good measure.
And, unlike latest Zs, which have targeted the US and Japan as their main markets, the fresh Z will switch direction to become a truly global sports car.
As such, it is being developed with a retractable hard-top. What that means, according to a source close to Nissan, is that the fresh Z will get a targa top or even a T-bar roof.
To Nissan planners, that was a must this time round. Targeting the likes of Porsche’s Boxster, BMW’s Z4 and Audi’s TT, the fresh Z will need all of the product planning and marketing assistance it can get to rival for honours in the premium sports car segment.
Evidently the powers that be inwards Nissan have determined that a targa top or T-bar roof will give their car the added appeal and value the brand needs, and “the marketing boys feel this feature will appeal to a broader cross-section of potential customers”.
What those planners are telling is that the current Z lacks street cred and needs a strong injection of it for the next model. It meets spectacle expectations but over the last decade its price has enlargened as well, to a point where the coupe now needs some more presence.
Part of the next Z’s attraction will be its fresh range of engines, kicking off with the Two.0-litre four-cylinder turbo mill presently used in the Japanese-market Skyline. But this powerplant will also have a hybrid unit linked to it for better economy and spectacle.
The top-of-the-range model will be powered by a turbocharged Trio.0-litre direct-injection petrol engine supplied by Mercedes and pumping out in excess of 245kW.
Our source tells us that both engines will incorporate a hybrid unit, not unlike Honda’s IMA, or Integrated Motor Assist, system. This is a parallel hybrid system in which the electrical motor is mounted inbetween the engine and transmission.
Albeit it’s not yet confirmed for Australia, Nissan has just exposed a hot NISMO version of the current sixth-generation 370Z, which arrived Down Under in coupe form in May 2009, with the roadster following in 2010.
Pricing for the smaller, lighter and more efficient fresh targa-topped Z is expected to proceed to begin from under $60,000 when it arrives by 2017.