It looks much like the current 350Z, but rumour has it that the replacement for Nissan's iconic Z-Car in its current embodiment will be named 400Z.
The pics of the black prototype at the Nurburgring were taken by the crème de la crème of spy photographers, the fellas at Carparazzi.
They report that the car appeared wider and longer than the current 350Z accompanying it, in convoy with a Porsche Cayman S.
The headlights look like an afterthought to confuse the not so innocent bystanders and the tailgate doesn't seem to fit the C pillars, leading us to the supposition that the new car might be a straight coupe, not the liftback the current car is.
This is by no means certain, but there is a precedent for it; namely the Infiniti G35 coupe (blue car pictured).
If the new car is to be a 400Z, it will likely run the 4.0-litre V6 with the same basic architecture as the VQ40 engine fitted to the D40 Navara.
-- with Carparazzi