Nissan is working on a replacement for the 370Z, a car that looked like an evolution of its predecessor, the 350Z. However, they are apparently not going to continue down the same path, and the new car will be more like the old 240Z than the one it’s actually replacing.
Think of it as an evolution of the Esflow concept (pictured) shown in 2011 – that clearly had a lot of 240 in its side profile, even if the front end was far more contemporary and therefor different.
In fact, the Esflow may very well be a preview of what they have planned, and they showed it to gauge opinions which apparently were positive enough for them to make this decision. They also received positive feedback in regards to the IDx concepts they showed, but now they’ve decided to try a different technique with that model.
The information comes from Autoblog after sitting down with Shiro Nakamura, Nissan’s Chief Creative Officer, on the sidelines of the Le Mans 24 hours race.
What Nakamura basically said was “we are studying a couple of different concepts. Because the sports car market is becoming smaller globally. We would like to do something, I personally think, is more [in the] original concept of Z, which is … more practical and appealing to younger customers.”
Basically, Nissan wants to make a car that is traditional in its layout, but innovative in the way it looks and fits in the market. It won’t be a direct rival to the Toyota GT86, but since the automaker won’t make an IDx-like smaller sporty model, then perhaps the Z-replacement could be made to fill that role too.
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