2015 Nissan Z May Be Lighter, Leaner

Just the Facts:

• The 2015 Nissan Z will be lighter, leaner and appeal to a more mainstream audience, Nissan's design boss Shiro Nakamura told Inside Line in a recent interview.
• Work on the new Z is "at an early stage," he said, with a concept version of the car in the works.
• Unveiling of the new Z concept could come as early as the 2014 Detroit Auto Show.

LONDON — The 2015 Nissan Z will be lighter, leaner and appeal to a more mainstream audience, Nissan's design boss Shiro Nakamura told Inside Line in a recent interview.

Work on the new Z is "at an early stage," he said, with a concept version of the car in the works.

Unveiling of the new Z concept could come as early as the 2014 Detroit Auto Show.

Presumably, a lighter Nissan Z would return better gas mileage than the current version. The 2013 Nissan 370Z returns 19 mpg in city driving and 26 mpg on the highway, according to the EPA. The 370Z coupe has a curb weight of 3,314 pounds.

The current 370Z has not enjoyed quite the same success as the 2002 350Z, which revived the Z car reputation and sold well in the U.S., Japan and Europe. "The next one has to have a stronger impact," says Nakamura.

And that won't be achieved by making it bigger. "It cannot be any larger," he says. "It's at its maximum size now and should go leaner." By that he means lighter too, with the new model to feature a down-sized engine, probably a four-cylinder turbo rather than today's 3.7-liter V6. "It needs to be lighter, and more accessible to open the door to more people," he adds.

Nissan must also juggle the product planning implications of this move to a lighter, leaner, downsized Z, because the current car not only shares its FM platform with the conceptually close Infiniti G Coupe, but also the G sedan and the Infiniti FX.

The Alliance tie-up with Daimler may also mean that the next Z can draw on Mercedes hardware, although the German company's higher-cost components may limit the scope for platform-sharing.

Speaking more widely about the Nissan range, Nakamura says that "Excitement, substance and agility" will feature in the design of future models. These new qualities will be combined with the above-average roominess of today's models, a task Nakamura admits will be "quite challenging," although the European-market Qashqai and Juke show the way ahead.

"They are already sporty, and have a nice stance. Over the next few years Nissans will have a more consistent look," he adds, explaining that such "a diversified range, from Micra to Titan, is in some ways a strength, but also a challenge."

Inside Line says: Nissan will have a challenge maintaining the continuity of the heavier, more brutal Zs of the past with the next lighter, leaner iteration.

Source: Inside Line