Nissan 400Z: a missed opportunity

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jlv

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Imagine the excitement if this was announced as an EV with 400+ miles of range. Especially if that came 10 years after the LEAF.

https://jalopnik.com/production-model-nissan-400z-images-leaked-and-there-ar-1846530407
 
jlv said:
Imagine the excitement if this was announced as an EV with 400+ miles of range. Especially if that came 10 years after the LEAF.

https://jalopnik.com/production-model-nissan-400z-images-leaked-and-there-ar-1846530407

Yeah, it would, but I'm sure years ago when they were working on the design and marketing, they didn't know the next president was going to promote EV sales so much or else I bet they would have prepared with an EV version of it to ride the wave of EV coming.
 
LeftieBiker said:
That is one yawn-inducing supercar.
LOL. At my work, someone posted some leaked video of a near production version and in our cars Slack channel (is mostly sports car enthusiasts, esp. German), it got 2 thumbs up and 4 YES reactions. There are no negative reactions, so far.

Not sure if Z since 350Z was ever intended to be a "supercar". GT-R is kinda that. When 350Z came out (I had one for years), it was intended to be affordable. I think Car and Driver even called it a "poor man's" Porsche. 300ZX I hear became too bloated and expensive before it got killed so Nissan had no Z car for years.

Original 240Z was intended to be an affordable sports car. (And Z car in Japan was always (IIRC) called Fairlady Z w/no numbers.)

As for missed opportunity, for those that didn't know, Japanese sports cars (esp. 2-seater) seriously do NOT sell in large numbers in the US. Off the top of my head, the sports cars that sell well in the US tend to be Camaro and Mustang. Import (esp. Japanese), nope. A lot of sports car enthusiasts don't realize this fact about sales. They get excited about sports or sporty cars and then are quite surprised when they see the minuscule numbers.

If they were to do BEV and 2-seater sports car (350Z and 370Z were), that could mean even tinier sales... Sports car people aren't really the type to embrace BEVs.

If a vehicle can't sell in a large enough quantity at a competitive price, it will lose $. It can't recoup its R&D, tooling and other costs (e.g. administrative, marketing, training, documentation, etc.)

When I have time, I can point to some historical sales figures that can include cars like Z, Miata, S2000, GT-R (TINY sales in the US), RX-8, etc.
 
I don't mean to say that it's unattractive, just that it's bland. The new Supra (a BMW that entered the Witness protection Program) is a little over-styled, but it does at least look more like a sports car than a giant econobox, if a nice-looking econobox.
 
From what I saw, it has references to and touches of previous Z cars: https://www.nissanusa.com/experience-nissan/news-and-events/nissan-z-car.html, including the tail of the 300ZX.

The 350Z had numerous references to previous Z cars, as well (e.g. 3 "gauges" atop the center console), Z badging, shape, etc.
 
LeftieBiker said:
Ok, I'll stop.
:)
cwerdna said:
LeftieBiker said:
That is one yawn-inducing supercar.
LOL. At my work, someone posted some leaked video of a near production version and in our cars Slack channel (is mostly sports car enthusiasts, esp. German), it got 2 thumbs up and 4 YES reactions. There are no negative reactions, so far.
FWIW, it's now 2 thumbs up, 6 YES reactions and no other reactions. One guy (based in LA/LA-area (city, not state)) said "I so want this". If it's any barometer for you... I lived in LA for about 4.5 years. I observed they care a lot more about cars and fashion than us Bay Area folks.

I didn't reply nor did I give any reaction.

FWIW, this was the concept/"proto" released awhlie ago:
https://www.nissanusa.com/vehicles/future-concept/new-nissan-z.html
https://www.thenissannext.com/en/z-proto.html

Maybe I'll hit midlife crisis and want sports car again... That was the impetus for a former co-worker ages ago when he got his 03 350Z (1st model year, pre-ordered). He said he had to get a sports car while his reflexes were still good and said he was going to sacrifice his child's education. I think I got my 350Z when I was still working in that group.
 
cwerdna, couldn't agree with you more. While one needs to give kudos to the pure speed of a high end Tesla, as a sports car it really does not fit the bill. For $80K you can get a very nicely equipped mid-engined Corvette that might not out drag a Tesla but will out handle it on a track and it will sure as hell hit 190mph faster. (Tesla limits top speed at 155.)
People buy sports cars for the sensory stimulus it gives them. The noise, vibrations, speed are all of the reasons people buy sports cars.
People buy EVs to get the opposite sensory stimuli.
 
knightmb said:
Yeah, it would, but I'm sure years ago when they were working on the design and marketing, they didn't know the next president was going to promote EV sales so much or else I bet they would have prepared with an EV version of it to ride the wave of EV coming.
Nissan doesn't design new cars based upon who is U.S. President. They didn't start selling the LEAF because of that reason.
 
cwerdna said:
Sports car people aren't really the type to embrace BEVs.
Sales and preorders for Porsche Taycan and Tesla Roadster "2020" seem to indicate there's a market.

But I know what you mean. There were people at work who were "the value of the car is in the rumble of the engine". Sometimes it takes a test ride to show them the torque of an EV motor beats the roar of a loud engine. I took several people for test drives in what I like to call my "slow Tesla", my lowly non-performance 75D with a 0-60 of just a 4.2 (it was slower when I bought it, but an OTA update uncorked it). That changed a few opinions (but definitely only a few).
 
jlv said:
knightmb said:
Yeah, it would, but I'm sure years ago when they were working on the design and marketing, they didn't know the next president was going to promote EV sales so much or else I bet they would have prepared with an EV version of it to ride the wave of EV coming.
Nissan doesn't design new cars based upon who is U.S. President. They didn't start selling the LEAF because of that reason.

Never said it was based on the who, just what they promoted and only if they had future vision of some kind, all opinion of course in this topic. ;)
 
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