Nissan has dismissed plans of a Toyota 86 rival, focusing instead on the Nissan GT-R and Z-car, stating that costs to develop a new platform is too high.
Senior vice president and chief creative officer at Nissan, Shiro Nakamura informed Auto Express, ““You need a proper platform because it has to be light and small and also affordable. In reality that is not easy to find. It also has to be rear-wheel drive – if we make it front-wheel drive it would be cheating. It is expensive and we are struggling.”
Despite the Renault-Nissan Alliance, Nakamura has said that the company won’t be using the Alpine’s rear-wheel-drive platform, as Nissan, according to him, is not a mid-engined car company. Adding to that, Nakamura also said that Nissan does not have the same heritage as Alpine.
Even so, Nissan remains committed to the GT-R and Z-car due to customer loyalty, and will remain in the range “for ever”.
During the 2013 Tokyo Motor Show, Nissan stunned the crowd with its IDx concept cars, which includes the IDx Freeflow and IDx Nismo. The duo was powered by a small turbocharged engine that drove the rear wheels and featured four seats. In spite of the generally good response from the public, Nissan has only hinted at producing these cars.
Nissan’s corporate vice president for product strategy, Keno Kato, said that while the company is putting priorities in electric vehicles, they still need a halo car like the Nissan GT-R and 370Z.
Via: Auto Express
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