Nissan New CEO Hopes To Bring Back GT-R And Silvia
Image courtesy Brandon Woyshnis – stock.adobe.com
New Nissan CEO Ivan Espinosa is a true car guy. Not only did he come up through the ranks of Nissan, working there since 2003. He’s literally a car enthusiast. He even reportedly drives his personal Z to work as his daily driver.
So when we were intrigued when we read a recent interview in Automotive News that sports car were part of the companies DNA and despite financial troubles and cost cutting moves, he’s hoping to continue to work on them. This includes saying that the “GT-R name will exist into the future”.
Reviving Classic Name Plates
He also noted the Silvia is the name plate he’d most like to revive at the company. He indicated development work is likely underway on a revisited Silvia, likely a vehicle targeting a lower price point than the Z while still maintaining sporting characteristics.
How each of these sports cars ultimately come to market remains to be seen. The most likely option for a R36 GT-R is based on a fully electric concept. Will the Z become the flagship ICE vehicle, while the GT-R goes fully electric or hybrid? Will the Silvia steal some of the Z’s thunder? Is there really room in the lineup for all 3 name plates again like we saw in the 90s?
Nissan Revival Likely Comes First
Nissan first must navigate out of the ashes of the failed merger with Honda. It must also revive it’s cash flow in order to fund the development of new products.
Nissan’s CEO said accelerating product development, and aligning to customer needs and tastes is it’s #1 priority. The Z, Patrol and Leaf were all named as being core tenants of what Nissan is about. While the good news for enthusiasts is the Z made the list. The bad news is an electric vehicle and SUV were the other two perspective pillars.
Additionally, Nissan said it’s focus would be on global platforms. Vehicles that Nissan could design and build but would have strong appetites in multiple global markets.
Partnerships May Be Key
Lastly, the CEO went on to say that partnerships, like the one that produced the upcoming Rogue hybrid designed in conjunction with Mitsubishi, may be a big part of both accelerating product development timelines and creating new products.
A new Mitsubishi/Nissan Eclipse/Silvia sports car crossover a la the BRZ/86 with Subaru and Toyota anyone? Anyone? Well, for now we can hope when the that Nissan’s enthusiast CEO won’t let the Silvia come back as a crossover SUV name plate the way Mitsubishi did with the Eclipse.
