Nissan has a lot of problems to manage at the moment. The Japanese automaker seems to be taking the path of least resistance when it comes to facing enthusiasts’ loudest rallying cry because a teaser for the upcoming new Nissan Z prototype suggests the sports car is keeping a stick.
We have all grown old only to watch many of our favourite legacy automakers abandon the manual transmission on our favourite models, like the new Toyota Supra, BMW 8 Series, Mazda 3 Turbo, Chevy Corvette, and so many more.
But a new teaser for the upcoming Z sports car prototype would suggest that Nissan isn’t done with the manual just yet:
There is one potentially upsetting caveat to this seemingly good news, however. As previously reported, this new Z prototype is expected to be developed on a heavily reworked version of the same platform as the current Nissan 370Z. Which was the platform under the 350Z before that. A platform that’s been under Nissans and Infinitis for over 12 years.
If that’s true though, it means we can be pretty confident with a lot of our expectations for the new car. If the old and current Z got a manual, then it makes sense that the parts would still work on the new car on the same or similar platform, as long as it could keep up with the other upgrades.
If the platform is indeed mostly the same, we can also confidently expect a 298kW version of Nissan’s 3.0-litre V6 twin-turbo engine, which was previously reported by Auto Express. It’s also been reported that the car could be upgraded from the current 370Z designation to “400Z” — which would be the first time the number designated power, not displacement.
[referenced id=”1219261″ url=”https://gizmodo.com.au/2020/05/the-next-nissan-z-already-looks-incredible/” thumb=”https://gizmodo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/29/nyiuqhbmwfp3c5ruttvb-300×169.png” title=”The Next Nissan Z Already Looks Incredible” excerpt=”The current Z car has become somewhat of a joke to buy brand new, as it’s older than the Iraq War at this point. But its overdue replacement just showed up in a teaser video, and it looks fantastic.”]
The new Z is expected to be revealed on September 15 (despite the teaser saying on 16) only as a “prototype,” despite being 12 years behind its predecessor already. Reports suggest it may not actually go on sale until 2022, which would be 15 years since the first generation of that platform went on sale as the 350Z. But hey, it’ll still have a stick.