Nissan 200SX to be reborn as an attainable electric coupe
New sports coupe could sit below current Nissan Z and GT-R to steal sales from Toyota GR 86Nissan is plotting an all-new, battery-powered entry-level sports car to finally replace the long-lamented Silvia, known as the Nissan 200SX in Australia, where it was last sold in 2002.
According to Nissan’s global product planning boss Ivan Espinosa, the car being considered will sit below the current Nissan Z coupe and the flagship GT-R supercar – a space once inhabited by the compact rear-wheel drive 200SX.
Espinosa told reporters at the Japan Mobility Show that Nissan needed to re-engage with younger buyers who lack the same interest in cars and driving as previous generations did.
“I think car manufacturers – in general – have forgotten about the passion for cars,” Espinosa told Top Gear.
“It depends on the country, but you can see that young customers are less and less attracted to cars.”
When asked specifically what Nissan was planning, Espinosa was quick to rule out just another new hot hatch like a follow-up to the long-departed Pulsar SSS.
“I’m not sure about a hot hatch, but maybe a smaller electric sports car you could think of. Something smaller, a bit more affordable. Definitely.
Nissan has always had a three-tiered performance car range and it’s something Espinosa wants to work towards again in future.
“Depending on which point in time you take, we’ve always had the GT-R, we’ve always had Z and we’ve always had an entry [level car] – either a hot hatch like Pulsar or something else down there [at that price and performance point].”
Espinosa didn’t explicitly mention the 200SX but said the new sports car had to appeal to someone in their early 20s and that it had to be both “exciting” and “engaging” to drive, as well as offering the level of connectivity expected from younger buyers.
Espinosa revealed Nissan could be hatching a Toyota GR 86 or Subaru BRZ rival at last week’s Japan Mobility Show, where Toyota showed off its Celica-channelling FT-Se coupe and Subaru unwrapped its Sport Mobility Concept.
Both compact two-door concepts were said to feature all-electric powertrains, suggesting that Nissan and its fellow Japanese brands believe there’s a future for affordable sports coupes following the transition to battery-electric power in coming years.
Pictured here are renderings of a reimagined Silvia created by Nissan Design Europe vice-president Matthew Weaver in 2021.
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