Comment about a new revised Z

m4a1mustang

Because that would just be a waste. They can just let the Z be a loss-leader and make it for however many years before they reevaluate and decide if they want to continue with the program or not.

We've talked about this here a lot, but the 370Z program was approved on the basis of selling 30,000 units a year. Well, we all know that 2009 almost looked like the end of the world, so demand forecasts everywhere were slashed, the Z included. Nissan has been lucky to sell roughly 10k units a year.

I think they just make them and whether they make money, break even, or lose out it doesn't really matter. The key will be when they sit down to decide if they are going to continue the Z program beyond the 370 are they going to be pushing for cancelling the Z altogether, reinventing it in a more eco-friendly platform (i.e. a hybrid or full electric sports car), or are they going to go all out and give more power.

My money is on either of the first two options. Unless the demand outlook for impractical 2 seat sports cars in the 30-40k space improves dramatically over the next 2 years, I think the Z is going to either go away once again or be reinvented in a more electric fashion.

We all know we are going towards a hybrid/electric/alt-energy fueled driving future, so a hybrid or full electric Z would allow Nissan to reestablish the Z as a pioneer. It was in the late 60s as the sports car EVERYONE could afford... it could start over as the hybrid/electric sports car EVERYONE can afford... who knows.

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FL 4Motion

/\ for better or worse, this is probably what is most likely going to happen. I don't see the Z going away, perhaps it might disappear for 2-3 years while they prep the z35 to be the first everyman eco friendly sports car.

This isn't necessarily terrible, one, it's enevitable; two, electric motors produce max tq immediately so a hybrid Z, provided they can maintain good handling, weight distribution, would be quite a fun little car, if it got around 35-40mpg too boot, even better.