It’s been a good few years since Nissan unveiled its latest Z sports car, and plenty of petrolheads are still reeling over the fact that the Japanese brand didn’t bring it to our shores. However, after an exclusive conversation with Jordi Vila, Nissan Europe’s divisional vice president of sales and marketing, Auto Express can reveal that all hope is not lost.
Vila told us, “Nissan Z is different in that it has a community worldwide. We expect a continuation of the combustion-engined Z cars, and we’re still mulling over how to bring them to the UK and Europe.”
It’s pretty safe to say that the Nissan Z, with its 3.0-litre twin-turbocharged V6, is a bit of a dinosaur in the eyes of the emissions regulators, and with the much tougher Euro 7 regulations looming, the brand’s engineers face an increasingly uphill struggle to hit the necessary targets. However, with a niche performance car like this, the solution isn’t as simple as fitting an alternative engine.
“It’s not realistic that we’d have a different powertrain only for Europe.” explained Vila. “It’d be the existing powertrain that’s been adapted for European regulations. We are currently studying the different configurations, but if this did result in a power reduction, it would only be minor.”
Nissan has recently performed a series of upgrades to the Z, with the facelifted models set to arrive elsewhere around the world this summer. Headlining the revamped line-up will be a Nismo variant, which places an even greater focus on driver engagement with tweaks such as a sharper engine response, improved torque delivery and weight reduction measures.
