#Z

Pricing on the 2024 Nissan Z appears to have leaked on the requisite web forums and it’s a tad bit steeper than you might have been anticipating. Nissan has made the sport coupe a little more expensive for the coming model year. However, it’s the high-spec Nismo variant that’s really going to stretch your wallet. 

Today's UCOTD is a non-running 1971 Datsun 240Z.

Most days, we look for quirky used cars, or inexpensive ones, or project cars. Yes, we've tossed a few classics up there -- two or three '60s Ford T-Birds, for example, but it hasn't been the normal modus operandi.

The new 2023 Nissan Z has suffered an embarrassing setback, with the automaker issuing a stop-sale order for all models not equipped with the six-speed manual. Dealers were informed to suspend sales late in August. But it wasn’t until recently that the world caught wind of why. 

It seems that Nissan is concerned about the possibility of a roll-away when the vehicle is left in park. Interestingly, this issue also cropped up in some late-model Frontier pickups that happen to share the Z’s nine-speed automatic transmission manufactured by Jatco. 

Look, we knew there was a lot of hype around the new Nissan Z. Rightfully so, as our first drive showed. And we know that quantities of any new model from any brand are usually limited at launch in a normal year -- and supply-chain problems across the industry, along with the pandemic's lingering effects on production, have made 2022 anything but a normal year for autos.

Still, the markups being charged for Nissan Z Proto Specs strike us as absurd.

Nissan has delayed its planned successor to the 370Z , citing the now-familiar “unforeseen supply chain issues.” Originally planned for a spring launch, the next Fairlady Z won’t be having her coming-out-party until this summer.

A Nissan dealership employee shared what appears to be a presentation slide of the upcoming Z’s launch timing.

If true, it confirms that the car will go on sale in June.

It’s been a good few years for tuners who cut their teeth – or at least lusted after – sporty machines from Japan back in the day. Recent developments have seen the return of a Civic Type R and freshened Nissan Z, new versions of which are set to hit our shores later this year.

This week, Honda showed off their new R at the Tokyo Auto Salon in Japan, while video surfaced of Team Nissan demonstrating the aural delights of the forthcoming Z.

As I’m sure you’ve seen elsewhere on these pages, the 2023 Nissan Z has broken cover in Brooklyn. And as much as I, TTAC’s professed Z fanatic, would love to be there, I simply can’t get away from the desk this week. Tim’s there, but I suspect he’s spending most of his time geeking out over Seinfeld filming sites.*

*Ed. note: Chris knows me too well. But Seinfeld was mostly filmed across the river in Manhattan and I’ve been to the diner that served as the coffee shop. It wasn’t that good.

Yes, we saw the reveal of the Z Proto last summer, and this production version isn’t changed all that much. Most notably, beneath the sculpted sheetmetal lies a platform that isn’t all that different than the outgoing 370Z, with a 400hp V6 that, while stout, isn’t all that new either. The journalists are surely agog with the reveal of the new car, but almost none of them will buy it. And, when you break down the likely sales figures, the new Z will likely sell in a year what a Ford F-150 sells in a day or two.

The sports car market in general is irrelevant. So why does a new Z matter? Let’s wander a bit into the history of the Z for a moment.

Tonight’s the night. The wraps finally officially come off the next Nissan Z.

Your humble author is sitting at a Starbucks in Brooklyn, counting the hours until tonight’s unveiling. And thinking about the future of not just the Z, but Infiniti.

Nissan’s new 4-year plan, despite aiming for efficiency and value, doesn’t leave sporty driving in the dustbin of history. Sports cars still exist as one of the automaker’s core products, and the very long awaited next-generation Z will be among that global cohort.

On the volume side of things, the brand’s compact and midsize crossovers are due for a rejuvenation, along with Nissan’s midsize pickup, which last gained a new body during the Bush administration.

Betcha forgot about this one. That’s okay – most people have. Thanks to Nissan’s glacier-like design cycle, the 2020 Z isn’t significantly different than when it first appeared in the late Jurassic period for the 2009 model year.

That doesn’t mean it isn’t worthy of our attention in this series, though, especially since it is one of the few remaining cars in today’s market that still offers a manual transmission, let alone two doors and a fast roofline. In fact, that steep chop aft of the windshield puts your author in mind of Godzilla, which is not bad company to keep.

I’m old — I just turned forty. The Z is also old. It will be fifty in about a year. Thus, the Heritage Edition 2019 Nissan 370Z tested here isn’t a misnomer — there is plenty of heritage in the various generations of the first Japanese sports car to make a serious impact in the American market.

As far as I know, there is no Heritage Edition Chris available.

But is the latest 370Z still relevant in a market increasingly edging away from sports cars? Or does heritage simply mean washed up?

Less than a year away from its 10th birthday, Nissan’s 370Z is getting a modest refresh in the hopes of maintaining some kind of relevance. Despite being the better car, the present model failed to outsell the 350Z in the United States in all but its introductory year, and annual deliveries have continue to tumble ever since. Nissan only managed to move 4,614 examples in 2017, which is less than half the volume seen in 2010.

The Z car represents the last gasp of Japanese muscle and it’s been gradually wheezing its way out of prominence. Most of the famous alphanumeric nameplates from the island nation were buried over a decade ago. But the Nissan lived on, almost as if it was saving a seat for the Toyota Supra’s return.

Taking all of this with a huge grain of salt, as future plans at many manufacturers are often more fluid than the salty Atlantic Ocean, reports are surfacing of Nissan forging ahead with a new Z. And it’s not a crossover.

According to the UK outlet Autocar, Nissan will display a concept Z at this year’s Tokyo show in October*, with a production version showing up a year later in L.A.