Aussies miss out on Nissan Z Proto

The seventh-generation 2022 Nissan Z has already let down some Australian sports car enthusiasts – at least those who were hoping to get behind the wheel of one of the more highly-specified Z Proto models.

But longer term there will be a consolation in the form of the higher-output Z NISMO.

While Nissan announced three months ago that the Z Proto had sold out in Australia – leaving buyers to instead settle on the regular Z Coupe – it has since been forced to inform some people who thought they’d be getting one of the limited-edition models that there would not be enough to go around.

Nissan Australia managing director Adam Paterson concedes there are some disappointed Z buyers.

“There are more orders than we have initial estimate as far as global availability is concerned,” said Paterson at the local media launch of the Japanese brand’s new hero sports car, adding that there is no option to secure more stock of a car that adds forged alloy wheels, yellow brake callipers and a distinctive yellow hue with a black roof (the Proto references the Z prototype concept car that was unveiled in 2020).

It means dealers have had to contact those would-be buyers – it’s believed there are hundreds of them – and offer them either their money back or one of the first regular Z Coupes into the country.

“They can have their deposit back if we’re not able to satisfy the order and the dealer will see if they’d like to move to a Coupe as opposed to a Proto.”

The Z Proto has the same mechanical package as the Coupe, including a 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 making 298kW and 475Nm.

But buyers are keen to get hold of the model with more visual flair.

The challenge with the Z Proto all comes down to numbers.

Nissan says it’s holding on to 1200 deposits for its latest Z-car – both Coupe and Proto – which dropped the alpha-numeric naming strategy that has been part of the model since its inception in 1969 to instead put the emphasis on the letter.

Nissan is not saying how many Z Protos are coming to Australia – but it’s less than the 240 that are available for both the United States and Japan, the only other markets the new Z is currently available in.

The final number for Australia will be between 100 and 200 cars, meaning that as few as one-third of those who placed a deposit on a Z Proto will actually take delivery of one.

carsales understands dealers have already been informed of their confirmed allocation of the soon-to-arrive Proto model – and consequently informed those who ordered one but are set to miss out – but head office is reluctant to release the information until it physically sees the cars arrive in the country, with delays of up to two months on some of the new Zs.

The Z Proto was allocated according to the buyer’s place in the queue, rather than allocated to dealers for them to divvy them up, as is usually the case. It means some dealers will deliver more than 10 Protos while others won’t deliver a single car.

Those who put down a deposit but missed out on a Proto are being offered one of the first Z Coupes into the country, but some buyers have instead decided to cancel their order.

There’s no shortage of sports car choice. Subaru recently launched its new BRZ while its new Toyota 86 sister car is due within months.

The Toyota Supra – arguably the closest on-paper rival of the Nissan Z – adds a manual gearbox option before the end of the year.

With a new Ford Mustang imminent – it gets revealed within weeks at the Detroit motor show – there is still keen interest in the existing model, which has a raucous 5.0-litre V8.

And Nissan won’t be standing still with the new Z. A hotter Nissan Z NISMO is believed to be in the works, with GT-R and Z Product Specialist Hiroshi Tamura telling us “we are studying for the future”.

Any new Z NISMO would bring more power and Tamura-san shed some light on the decision not to adopt the 400Z name, as many had speculated.

He said there were internal discussions about utilising the 400Z name – aligning with its horsepower output rather than the engine capacity, continuing a lineage in which every new Z has a higher number than the car it superseded – but the issue came down to future updates, which would theoretically require a name change for any power change.

With the arrival of a Nissan Z NISMO, for example, it could have required a change in nomenclature.

That now won’t be required, with the more potent version of the iconic sports car instead likely to be called Z NISMO.

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