By: Mike Ginsca
Stop the presses! The long, long, awaited replacement for the aging Nissan 370Z is finally upon us. The Nissan Z Proto previews the next Nissan Z car that will most likely be called the 400Z thanks to the 400-hp engine that will probably reside under the hood.
While Nissan has not confirmed any power figures, they did confirm that a twin-turbocharged V6 will be powering the next Z car. Currently, their most powerful version of this engine resides under the hood of the Infiniti Q60 Redline which produces 400 hp. Nissan could easily up the power by a bit but in the Q60, 400 hp felt plentiful. It should also feel plentiful in this new Nissan Z Proto as it will most likely weight a bit less than the Infiniti Q60. Mated to the engine will be a 6-speed manual transmission. So #SaveTheManuals is alive and well with Nissan but if you want an automatic, Nissan says that it is currently in development.
The Proto Z is 4.7-inches longer than the current 370Z as well as slightly taller and wider. However, Nissan didn’t specify what changes were made to the chassis or suspension. But the Nissan Z Proto retains key Z car styling features such as the sloping roof and rectagonal grille of the 350Z, the taillights which pay homage to the 300ZX, and the half circular LED headlights which are reminiscent of the 240ZG of the 1970’s.
On the inside, the Nissan Proto Z features a large 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster with a 7,000 rpm redline tachometer in the center. An 8-inch touchscreen with Nissan’s latest infotainment system will be doing entertainment duties. Three auxiliary analog gauges cantered towards the driver display critical information but in the photos that Nissan provided, it looks like the digital driver display also displays engine parameters.
The Nissan Z Proto gives us a good glance of what the future Z car will look like but we will have to wait a while longer until a pre-production model is unveiled sometime in 2021.
Full Press release: Nissan Canada
