What’s in Store for Next-Gen Nissan Z? We Shall ‘Z’ Sept. 15
When Nissan revealed its upcoming lineup in May, we were pleasantly surprised to see that the automaker included a new Z car in its plans. Just over three months later, we have our first official look at the soon-to-be-revealed Z Proto. Well, kinda. It’s pretty tough to see much of the car — set for its full streaming debut on Sept. 15 — and while Nissan showed more in a May teaser video, there’s no guarantee that’s what the next Z will look like.
Related: Nissan Teases Future Lineup, Including Next-Gen Z Car, Amid Massive Shakeup
What we can see is a coupe body and a headlight with upper and lower lighting elements that, admittedly, match the headlights from the previous video. Lightening the image considerably shows a body with a long hood and an aggressively sloped roof that leads past muscular haunches to a sharply styled rear end, which further matches what we’ve seen already.
That said, this is the “Z Proto,” likely meaning that it’s a prototype and not a production vehicle. Hopefully what we see in two weeks is close to the final product, however, and not a Lucy-with-the-football situation like what happened with the Toyota FT-1 Concept and the production Toyota Supra (which is still pretty cool, but not FT-1 cool).
The video teaser shows off the history of Nissan’s Z car lineup, including the iconic 240Z of the 1970s, the ’90s 300Z and the 370Z of today. As for what this next Z will be named, we’re not sure, nor do we know what will power it. We’ve imagined it might be the 400-horsepower, turbocharged 3.0-liter V-6 (currently used in the Red Sport versions of the Infiniti Q50 sedan and Q60 coupe), which could make this the return of the 300Z (signifying displacement) or the dawn of the 400Z (signifying horsepower).
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Check out the full teaser video below, and stay tuned to Cars.com for more coverage of the Z Proto. If you’d like to watch the reveal Sept. 15, you can head to TheNissanNext.com at 6:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.
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