Nissan Z name to stick with new sports car

Nissan Australia managing director, Stephen Lester, says the company is still waiting for Japan to issue the final decree on the name of its incoming new-generation sports car, but it remains odds-on to be simply known as the Nissan Z.

Sources have previously told carsales that the new Z35-series sports coupe will launch in Australia early next year as the 2022 Nissan Z, which tallies with reports from the key US market and various leaked images of the production car with no ‘400Z’ or similar badges.

Asked whether the replacement for the Nissan 370Z would be known simply as the Nissan Z – as per the near-production Nissan Z Proto (prototype) shown last year – Lester told carsales this week: “We don’t have any direction on that – how the Z Proto will be marketed anywhere in the world, let alone Australia.

“South of the 49th parallel [Lester is Canadian], they call it the ‘Zee’, but we haven’t been contacted on ... what the nomenclature will look like.”

Asked whether that meant that ‘400Z’ was definitely ruled out as the name for the new sports car, Lester replied: “It doesn’t mean anything to me right now – because they haven’t told me what the direction is going to look like. The local market doesn’t really get involved in that naming convention [of a] product like that.”

On the question of whether Nissan Australia could go its own way with naming the car, Lester was unequivocal.

“No. All [Nissan] products are named by a very specific governance ... even special-editions go through that.”

This hasn’t always been the case, as seen with short-lived renaming of the Nissan Tiida small car as the Nissan Pulsar because the latter retained so much brand awareness in this country.

But in response to this example, Lester said: “That may have been the case. I don’t know, but naming convention is handled by global, and it follows a very structured process.”

The local Nissan chief, who was speaking at the launch of the new 2021 Nissan LEAF e+, also made it clear that he’s content with whatever the new twin-turbo V6 sports car will be named when it arrives.

“And I would say in connection with any vehicle – especially something as iconic as the ‘Zed’, I’m not complaining. It’s ‘top-down’, and that’s the way it’s going to be,” he said.

So even in a throw-away line – and drawing on decades-long pop-culture nicknaming – Lester himself refers to the car as ‘the Zed’.