Those who were worried that the next Nissan Z model was going to be forever switched to some crossover or SUV can calm down now—while the Nissan Gripz concept (revealed at the Frankfurt Motor Show) is openly going to be a Z car on stilts, Nissan has said that that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be making a new Z coupe. In fact, the Z-based crossover could end up funding the new coupe.
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The Gripz concept, Nissan has said, will more than likely morph into a sporty crossover (possibly positioned just above the JUKE in the international lineup), riding on the same platform as the current 370Z, and so take advantage of economies of scale.
As for the next Z, of course, Nissan’s Hiroshi Tamura, speaking to Motoring, hinted that the new coupe would be redesigned—smaller, lighter, less expensive, and potentially with a smaller four-cylinder hybrid engine. Sales of the Gripz-derived model could help offset the redesigning efforts.
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Nothing is set in stone yet—according to Tamura, the next Z coupe is still in the design phase, but one thing is certain: the coupe will not look anything like the iDX concept from the Tokyo Motor Show a few years ago, which apparently will not spawn an actual production model.
Since the next Z coupe is at least two years away, it will be some time until we find out for sure what it will look like (kind of like the GT-R, which we won’t see a replacement for until 2020).
News Source: Yahoo
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