It sounds like we’ve got a genuine car lover coming into power, but he’ll need to act fast
- Nissan’s new CEO aims to bring four or more halo sports cars to the brand.
- The future Z and GT-R may go global with new, affordable performance options.
- A possible modernized Silvia or hot hatch could become part of Nissan’s future.
It wasn’t long ago that Nissan and Infiniti were near the top of the list of brands for performance enthusiasts. But these days? Well, let’s just say the bloom is off the rose. The Z, while good, was outsold by the long-dead Chevrolet Camaro last year. The GT-R is actually dead, and even if it wasn’t, it accounted for all of 657 sales over the last two years. If Nissan’s new boss gets his way, though, things are about to change.
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As of April 1, Ivan Espinosa is taking over as the new CEO of Nissan. After a tough few years, missed market opportunities, and a failed merger with Honda, Makoto Uchida is stepping down. Espinosa is evidently quite the car guy, and he wants to reinvigorate the brand. “Driving excitement will always be at the heart of Nissan, it’s what we do,” he recently said.
Reviving the Halo Car Dream
In a new interview with Top Gear, Espinosa wants not one, not two, but four or more big halo cars for the brand to hang its hat on: “I want to have four or five cars at the top of our portfolio that are really brand-oriented cars; cars that really represent what Nissan is about, that show what the heartbeat of Nissan is. These cars should go everywhere in the world.”
What cars exactly is Espinosa thinking of, one might ask. “I have some options about the cars but you can imagine a future Z, if we ever do a more affordable car which is still in my dream as I’ve told you, maybe the future GT-R, a future Patrol. These are for me the cars that really describe what Nissan is about. With this, we keep the dream alive of what driving excitement is.”
The Hyper Force Dream and the “Affordable” Future
To put that in non-PR speak, he’s hinting at the idea of halo cars like the GT-R, Z, and Patrol that aren’t limited to one or two markets: “In the UK and Europe, we had to stop offering sports cars because of regulations, but the fifth car in the story of our ‘Hyper’ concepts is the vision of what we want to consider doing for the future of a hyper, super sports car.”
More: Nissan Exec Says Silvia Could Return As An Affordable Sportscar
He’s, of course, talking about the Hyper Force concept shown off at the Japan Mobility show. If it ends up anything like that 1,341 hp (1,000 kW) monster, it’ll be okay with us.
In addition, he specifically called out “a more affordable car,” which sounds like a modernized hot hatch like the Pulsar, or perhaps a new Silvia. Again, there’s no shortage of performance car fans – the only thing Nissan has to do is build them and ensure they’re good.
