The Hyper Force, a 1,341 hp (1,360 PS) concept pointing to the GT-R’s future as a battery-powered supercar, was the star of Nissan’s Tokyo show lineup this week, but Nissan execs are apparently just as enthusiastic about the possibilities of a driver’s EV at the other end of the power and affordability scale.
Nissan product boss Ivan Espinosa told reporters that an entry-level fun car designed to sit below the Z and GT-R could be just what the company needs to re-engage with younger buyers, many of whom don’t have the same interest in cars and driving that previous generations did.
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Illustrations Carscoops / John Halas
“I think car manufacturers – in general – have forgotten about the passion for cars,” Espinosa told Top Gear. “It depends on the country, but you can see that young customers are less and less attracted to cars.”
Espinosa noted that for many years Nissan offered enthusiasts a three-tier lineup, but that it currently lacks any kind of vehicle designed to appeal to buyers in their twenties. One option would be for Nissan to jump into the hot hatch market and compete head-on with the likes of the Toyota GR Corolla and Honda Civic Type R, but Espinosa seemed to have a different plan that doesn’t include hot hatches or combustion power.
“I’m not sure about a hot hatch, but maybe a smaller electric sports car,” he told TG. “Something smaller, a bit more affordable. Definitely.”
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The Nissan IDx Freeflow and IDx Nismo concepts from 2013
Upon reading those words we immediately began to imagine a modern day 180/200/240SX/ Silvia, an electric equivalent to the Toyota GR86, or maybe a battery-powered successor to the brilliant and boxy Sentra SE-R of the early 1990s, something along the lines of the fantastic IDx Freeflow and IDx Nismo concepts from 2013 (seen above), but with an EV heart.
Or perhaps a proper little sports car to go head to head with Toyota’s new electric MR-2, a road-going version of this year’s Max-Out electric roadster concept (seen below). Espinosa says his dream would be for the hypothetical entry-level sports car to come in standard and Nismo varieties, just like its Z and GT-R big brothers.
Note: The illustrations in this story are like that one cousin at family gatherings – independent and not officially part of the Nissan clan.
But before we get too carried away, it’s worth considering that traditional driving thrills might not be central to attracting a new generation of buyers, or at least not as important as it having technology that lets those young drivers connect digitally to their friends and the car community. And maybe we ought to prepare ourselves for the possibility that it’ll look more like a crossover than a modern-day 240SX.
Of course, the whole plan might be wishful thinking. A decade on there’s no sign of the IDx twins, with one alleged Nissan insider claiming the automaker couldn’t make a business case for the cars. Let’s hope that’s changed, because if Nissan can really bring a fun-to-drive EV to market for less than the price of a Z, we can’t wait to see and drive it. What form would you like an electric little brother to the Z to take? Check out the gallery of old-timer, affordable Nissan performance cars below for some retro inspiration.
