[OFFICIAL] Discussion for the next new Nissan 400Z Z35?

RicerX

The Titan (until this year), Frontier, Z, Xterra, and Quest have idled for an egregious amount of model years relatively unchanged. The sports car market is diversifying and has many different offerings at competitive prices. The midsize truck market is on the upswing with new offerings as well as significant revisions from existing models. The minivan market is seeing some new offerings. The SUV (body on frame, not crossover) is slowly dying on the vine. The Xterra is dead, and I think the 4Runner is next (though not necessarily soon), and the Jeep Wrangler will be the last man standing there.

For all of these models, Nissan has displayed a massive lack of ability to pull the trigger on product design. It seems that they want to stick with what they're successful at and continue doing what's safe. The GT-R is there largely to placate the remainder of the stud engineers at Nissan while serving as a marketing tool, so it serves as an exception to Nissan's tendency toward BLAND PEOPLE MOVERS AND VOLUME SALES.

I feel this brand has lost its thirst to compete and be different with some of its offerings. I truly feel they have NO IDEA what to do with the Z. Or the Frontier. They poached a bunch of guys from Dodge to make the Titan happen, otherwise I think they would have bailed there.

Infiniti's brand crisis over the last several years has not helped the situation. The Maxima could nearly be badged an Infiniti with an AWD option, but the Q50 could nearly be badged a Nissan. They have to do something to make Infiniti different, and dare I say the Z has a better place at the Infiniti brand with the direction they're trying to take. The GT-R does as well. Let Nissan be the economical brand and Infiniti be the experience brand.

I think Nissan has gotten too damn big to adequately and effectively respond to changing market conditions. On the front, it looks as though they're gunshy, but they're not. The company grew so quickly, and the only way they could effectively manage it was to insert new levels of management. A company that could turn a concept around to a production vehicle within 18 months is now a company that lets its flagship truck hang around completely unchanged for 11 years, its longest running halo sports car relatively unchanged for 9 years, and nearly kill off its flagship sedan due to being at a completely loss as to what to do with a "sports sedan".

Once Infiniti can prove themselves (they're setting sales records this year due to the success of the Q50 alone, and they're going to do even more with the Q60), they're going to be the brand we want Nissan to be. It's sad - the late 90s Nissan had so many vehicles that enticed me I had no idea what to buy. Now, I honestly would buy nothing from them new. (I realize Infiniti is pretty much Nissan, but it's not).

The Q60 Red Sport is what we want the Z to be - let's be honest. It's a milder M3. A boosted sports coupe with massive interior improvements and the looks to wrap it all up.

Automotive brands do one of two things with their products typically - they offer products with which their buyers and owners grow, or they grow and enhance their products alongside their buyers. They evolve with the feedback from those that own them, or they serve as a gateway to the next vehicle in their lineup.

With the Z, Nissan has done NEITHER ONE of those things. The Z hasn't evolved with its buyers in NINE YEARS, and now that many Z owners are ready for the next thing, Nissan is hoping those owners have increased their buying power by 314% in nine years so they can hop into a GT-R. For 99.9% of Z drivers, this **** isn't happening.

There will be the diehard Z guys that will always stick around, and maybe they're just counting on that to be the case. I'm left very disappointed with this, however. It's so... uninspiring. Time to branch out, I guess, eh?

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