Originally Posted by RicerX

The Z32 had a lot of factors in its demise.

If you notice, Nissan wasn't alone in retiring their sports car in the American market during this time. In fact, they did so within two years of their competition retiring the Supra, 3000GT, and RX-7 in the American market. The 300ZX made it all the way to 2000 in Japan, as the 3000GT made it to 2001 and the Supra and RX-7 made it to 2002 in Japan.

The rise of the SUV contributed to these cars leaving the American market. People simply weren't buying cars like this anymore, with the exception of the mainstays in the pony cars, which were much cheaper to buy, and cheaper to own and maintain than the turbocharged Japanese cars. Hell, even the Chevy Camaro died during the tail end of that period because of slow sales (and lack of attention from GM as the vehicle went virtually unchanged for 10 years).

Nissan did indeed have a lot of problems, but the Z32's demise was a result of those problems, not the cause of it. Once the Renault/Nissan alliance kicked off and Ghosn took control, the first thing to result from his work was the Z33, which was built to be a true Z car yet more relevant to the current market than its predecessor, which was a success as a result.

I still believe that Nissan "played it safe" with the Z34, but no one could have predicted the partial collapse of the automotive industry (or maybe someone did, hence playing it safe). Now the storm has been weathered, and Nissan can make the Z35 a success by playing to the strengths of the market and staying competitive. They can do it, and they did it with the Z33 - it's just a matter of whether they'll choose to do it for the Z35.