The next Nissan Z sports car is almost here as the Japanese automaker has announced September 15 as the debut date for the 370Z successor.
Called the Nissan Z Proto, the new sports car is teased in a new video that features its predecessors. “Nissan is reawakening the Power of Z with the new Nissan Z Proto. We’ve combined 50 years of passion and heritage with modern technology to design the new generation of the legendary Z sports car,” the automaker says in a short statement accompanying the video.
The Nissan Z Proto will be unveiled on Tuesday, September 15 at 7:30 p.m. CDT at the Nissan Pavilion in Yokohama, Japan. No other details are provided but the video does offer a glimpse of the fifth-generation Z sports car. It’s not as revealing as the group teaser video Nissan dropped on May 28 but it does reveal how the LED headlights look in the dark.
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Given the timing of the unveiling, it’s reasonable to believe the automaker will launch the Z Proto for the 2021 model year, though obviously we can’t know that for sure. Still, this seems to dismiss a recent report that said the new Z sports car would launch in late 2022.
Unless the ‘Proto’ in the model’s name is a reference to “prototype”, in which case the Z Proto is a near-production prototype. Obviously, there are more questions than answers at the moment regarding the new Z sports car.
However, word on the street is the Z Porto will be based on the 370Z architecture instead of being an all-new effort. Expect it to have around 400 horsepower from a twin-turbo 3.0-liter V6 sourced from Infiniti’s Q50 and Q60 Red Sport 400. Rumor has it Nissan will offer it with a six-speed manual or nine-speed automatic, though this hasn’t been confirmed.
