Nissan’s sports car lineup has seen better days as the 370Z debuted over a decade ago at the 2008 Los Angeles Auto Show. The GT-R is even older as it celebrated its premiere at the 2007 Tokyo Auto Show.
While the models have seen a handful of updates since then, especially the GT-R, there’s no denying they’re due for a redesign. Thankfully, it appears the models haven’t been forgotten.
Speaking at the sidelines of this year’s Tokyo Motor Show, Nissan’s global product planning boss told Autocar that the 370Z and GT-R are “at the heart of Nissan and we are actively looking at and working on them.”
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Ivan Espinosa went on to say we can expect to hear “something soon” about the models. He declined to elaborate, but said “Nissan is about exciting cars.”
What that means is unclear and replacements might not be imminent as Espinosa suggested Nissan was open to partnerships with other automakers on a joint sports car. This has become increasingly common in the industry and is best highlighted by Toyota’s partnerships with BMW and Subaru.
It shouldn’t be too surprising that Nissan is open to a similar agreement as sales of the 370Z have tanked in past few years. While Nissan used to sell more than 7,000 370Zs in the United States, sales have been declining steadily since 2016. That year, Nissan sold 5,913 units in America and in 2018 that number dropped to 3,468 units. Sales of the GT-R have also fallen, but that’s more of a halo model.
Regardless, Nissan’s senior vice president for global design suggested work is already underway on a new 370Z. As he told the publication, “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.”
