Nissan 370Z NISMO here this year

Nissan Australia is finally ready to up the ante. Having just released the GT-R NISMO, company chief Richard Emery says he wants to continue building the profile of Nissan’s NISMO performance sub-brand, which is akin to what AMG is to Mercedes or M to BMW.

When it announced a $299,000 entry price for the Japanese car-maker's upgraded GT-R NISMO last October, Nissan Australia promised to release a second NISMO model here by February 2018.

Now we can confirm that model will be the 370Z NISMO, and that it will be available by the end of this year.

“This is the first point for the NISMO brand in Australia,” Emery said of the GT-R.

“It’s got heritage out of the operations of our motorsport and the GT-R will be our first pointer.”

But with Nissan planning a massive product roll-over across 2019 and 2020, Emery implied that the NISMO brand would become more prevalent among future Nissan variants.

More than anything, he intends on creating a family of NISMO products, rather than relying on one model and putting the performance name at risk of going stale.

Nissan has a number of NISMO products within its current portfolio, including filliped versions of the Micra city-car and JUKE SUV.

However, it is understood the 370Z first launched in 2009 will form the next element of NISMO’s line-up Down Under – despite the fact a replacement for the current 370Z is expected to surface at the Tokyo motor show late this year.

Like the GT-R NISMO, the 370Z NISMO features an upgraded driveline and suspension, along with cosmetic tweaks inside and out.

You can also expect the 370Z to feature an extensive Australian tuning program to ensure it matches local conditions in ride and handling.

The third piece of the puzzle, at least until Nissan’s new model onslaught materialises, is set to be the JUKE NISMO RS.