Tag Archives: Nissan

NEW CARS

The Nissan Z Gets a Mid-Cycle Tune-Up—and Loses the Big Grille

The Nissan Z isn’t old enough to be nostalgic, but it’s already mature enough to know when less is more. Just three years into its lifecycle, the retro-modern sports car is getting a light refresh, and instead of chasing shock value, Nissan has opted for restraint. The updated Z—still called Fairlady Z in Japan—debuted at the Tokyo Auto Salon with a cleaner face, a classy new color, and a handful of mechanical tweaks that matter more than flashy gimmicks.

Let’s start with the nose. If you ever found the original Z’s gaping grille a little too eager to please, you’ll appreciate the revision. Nissan has ditched the oversized opening in favor of a slimmer, two-piece setup. Thin horizontal elements up top sit above a more open lower grille, with a body-colored divider in between. The result is simpler, more confident, and closer to the classic Z proportions enthusiasts actually remember fondly.

The new paint helps, too. Called Unryu Green, it’s a contemporary riff on Nissan’s old-school Grand Prix Green, and it looks right at home on a long-hood, short-deck coupe like this. Paired with fresh 10-spoke, 19-inch wheels, the Z gains a sharper, more premium presence without losing its throwback charm.

Inside, the changes are minimal—almost stubbornly so. A light tan leather option joins the palette, but otherwise the cabin carries on as before. That’s not a complaint. The Z’s interior was never about reinventing the wheel, and Nissan seems content to leave well enough alone. The bigger talking point is the Nismo model, which finally adds a manual transmission to the mix. Some early photos suggest paddle shifters are still present, likely tied to rev-matching duties, but either way, three pedals in a Z-badged Nismo feels like a long-overdue correction.

Under the skin, Nissan has done the kind of homework that rarely shows up in press photos. The refreshed Z gets retuned shocks with larger pistons, a change aimed at improving both body control and responsiveness. Bigger brakes—especially on the Nismo—promise more confidence when driving hard, which is, of course, the whole reason this car exists.

Japan will get first dibs, with the updated Fairlady Z expected to arrive by summer 2026. Nissan hasn’t officially confirmed U.S. availability, but if history is any guide, we’d be surprised if this subtly improved Z didn’t make its way stateside shortly thereafter, likely as a 2027 model.

It’s not a reinvention, and it doesn’t need to be. The Nissan Z was already on the right track. This refresh just sands down the rough edges—and sometimes, that’s the smartest move a sports car can make.

Source: Nissan

NEW CARS

Nissan Revives Its Playful Side with the Pike-Inspired Electric Wave

Nissan is about to dive back into the European city-car pool, and this time it’s bringing a sense of humor—and history—with it. The company’s upcoming electric runabout will be called Wave, a name that feels breezy, friendly, and intentionally un-serious. That’s fitting, because the Wave is shaping up to be Nissan’s most character-driven small car in years, blending modern EV pragmatism with a design playbook lifted straight from the brand’s late-’80s cult classics.

Due next year, the Nissan Wave will be built by Renault alongside the electric Twingo, with which it shares its basic architecture. This is less badge engineering and more personality swap: same bones, different soul. And if Nissan gets it right, the Wave could do for the city-EV segment what the original Pike cars did for Japanese kei-adjacent oddities—make people smile before they even check the spec sheet.

Pike’s Peak Nostalgia

According to Nissan Europe design boss Giovanny Arroba, the Wave will take inspiration from the brand’s legendary Pike cars—a series of retro-styled small vehicles developed by Nissan’s Pike Factory special projects group in the late 1980s and early ’90s. If that sounds niche, it is—but in the best possible way.

Cars like the Be-1, Pao, Figaro, and S-Cargo were based on the first-generation Micra and leaned hard into exaggerated 1950s design cues: exposed hinges, bold door handles, side strakes, and proportions that bordered on cartoonish. They weren’t subtle, and they weren’t meant to be. When the Be-1 debuted at the 1985 Tokyo motor show, demand was so overwhelming that Nissan had to use a lottery system to decide who got to buy one of the 10,000 cars allocated for production.

That kind of enthusiasm is exactly what modern EVs—especially affordable ones—often lack.

Same Platform, Different Vibe

Under the skin, the Wave will ride on a shortened version of Renault’s AmpR Small platform, the same architecture underpinning the new electric Twingo. That means a tidy footprint—expect the Wave to match the Twingo’s 3.79-meter length—and urban-friendly proportions that prioritize maneuverability over macho posturing.

Power comes from a 27.5-kWh lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) battery, sourced from CATL. LFP chemistry doesn’t win bragging rights for energy density, but it’s cheaper, more durable, and better suited to the stop-and-go life of a city car. Range is expected to land around 163 miles, mirroring the Twingo and landing squarely in the “enough for real life” category.

The payoff is price. Nissan is targeting the same sub-£20,000 sticker as the Twingo, which—these days—counts as aggressively affordable in the EV world.

Retro Without the Red Ink

The clever bit is how Nissan plans to inject Pike-inspired character without blowing the budget. The Twingo already leans into retro cues of its own, referencing the original 1990s model, which gives Nissan a forgiving canvas. Think of it as remixing nostalgia rather than starting from scratch—similar to how Nissan plans to differentiate its upcoming Micra, which is based on the Renault 5.

How far Nissan will push the Pike look remains an open question. Full-on exposed hinges and novelty detailing would be delightful but potentially costly. Still, Nissan will be watching Renault closely. Its alliance partner has found real success mining heritage with the electric Renault 5 and 4, proving that retro isn’t just an aesthetic—it’s a sales strategy.

Fast, Cheap, and (Hopefully) Fun

Beyond design, the Wave benefits from the Twingo program’s ruthless focus on efficiency. Renault claims a development time of just 21 months, aided by a reduced parts count and streamlined production. Nissan gets to piggyback on those gains, which matters because the margins on small cars—especially electric ones—are notoriously thin.

That efficiency also helps explain why Nissan is re-entering a segment it abandoned more than a decade ago. The company hasn’t sold a city car in Europe since it killed off the Indian-built Pixo in 2013. But the landscape has changed. The European Union now offers “super-credits” for small EVs, counting each one as 1.3 vehicles for emissions targets. Suddenly, small electric cars aren’t just charming—they’re strategically valuable.

A Small Car With Big Intent

The Nissan Wave won’t be fast, flashy, or long-legged. It doesn’t need to be. Its job is to make electric mobility feel approachable again—to remind buyers that EVs can be cheerful appliances rather than rolling tech demos. If Nissan successfully channels even a fraction of the Pike cars’ whimsy, the Wave could stand out in a sea of anonymous jellybeans.

In an era where so many new cars feel engineered by spreadsheet, the Wave hints at something refreshingly human. Affordable, efficient, and a little bit weird—in other words, exactly what a great city car should be.

Source: Autocar

News

2024 Nissan GT-R Skyline Edition Tests the Collector Market

The Nissan GT-R has always lived in a strange limbo—too advanced to fade quietly into obscurity, too stubbornly unchanged to chase reinvention. For nearly two decades, the R35 generation carried on with incremental updates, daring the world to decide whether Godzilla was aging gracefully or simply refusing to age at all. Now, as production winds down and nostalgia starts doing what it does best, certain versions of the GT-R are inching toward collector status. Exhibit A: this 2024 GT-R Skyline Edition that just tried—and failed—to rewrite its own market value.

At a recent Cars & Bids auction, an ultra-low-mileage Skyline Edition coupe surged to an eye-watering $222,000 after 46 bids. That’s real money, and a lot of enthusiasm. It’s also not enough. The seller’s reserve remained untouched, suggesting that even a six-figure profit on paper isn’t sufficient when rarity, timing, and optimism collide.

Introduced for the 2024 model year, the Skyline Edition was Nissan’s carefully calculated nostalgia play for the U.S. market. Only 100 examples were built, each finished in Bayside Blue—a color so closely associated with the R34-generation GT-R that merely mentioning it sends certain corners of the internet into meltdown. It’s a paint choice that does most of the talking before the engine ever fires.

When new, the Skyline Edition carried an MSRP of $133,500. By modern supercar standards, that almost feels restrained, especially when you consider what Nissan bundled into the package. Mechanically, it’s the familiar R35 formula: a hand-assembled 3.8-liter twin-turbo V6 producing 573 horsepower and 467 pound-feet of torque, sent through a six-speed dual-clutch transmission and all four wheels. It’s still brutally quick, still devastatingly effective, and still more video game boss than analog sports car.

But the Skyline Edition’s real differentiator isn’t horsepower—it’s atmosphere. Open the door and you’re greeted by a Sora Blue interior that makes most other R35 cabins look positively dour. Light blue leather spreads across the dashboard, door panels, seats, steering wheel, and center console, creating a look that’s equal parts luxury lounge and concept car throwback. Carbon-fiber trim cuts through the pastel palette, reminding you that this is still very much a performance weapon, not a fashion accessory.

Nissan sweetened the deal further with a titanium exhaust system, 20-inch Rays wheels, and electronically controlled Bilstein DampTronic dampers. It’s a greatest-hits list of GT-R hardware, curated for buyers who wanted the full experience without checking the aftermarket catalog.

This particular car was originally delivered by Riverside Nissan in California and had just 80 miles on the odometer when it crossed the virtual auction block. Eighty. That’s barely enough to warm the fluids, let alone wear in a clutch. In collector terms, it’s essentially a new car with a time capsule warranty.

So why didn’t $222,000 seal the deal? Because the modern collector market is as much about belief as it is about numbers. The seller clearly believes the Skyline Edition represents a future blue-chip GT-R—one that will sit comfortably alongside the most desirable R35 variants once the dust settles and the internal-combustion era feels properly distant. The bidders, enthusiastic as they were, weren’t quite ready to make that leap.

Still, the takeaway here isn’t failure—it’s momentum. A GT-R that originally sold for $133,500 attracting bids north of $220K tells you everything you need to know about where the wind is blowing. The R35 may have overstayed its welcome in showrooms, but in the collector world, it’s just starting to make sense.

Godzilla isn’t done evolving. It’s just changing arenas.

Source: Cars & Bids