While I could blame media outlets for putting out false news since about Jan/Feb of this year regarding a next generation R36 and Z35, I now have to put the onus on Nissan senior executives lying through their teeth and being creative with the truth for
PR.
I am taking it many users here were not aware of what I passed on in March regarding both cars and much more at Nissan-Infiniti?
The person responsible for validating 370z accounts dropped the ball and took 2 months to validate my registration here, meaning I had already lost patience and moved on by then out of frustration.
Anyway, the real truth is, Nissan senior management cancelled the Z35 programme in January and head of design personnel (Albaisa), chose to rather cleverly lie and provide a vague statement regarding this, mostly to temper the potential anger of anxious and frustrated Z owners.
From what I am observing, Alfonso keeps doing this and is essentially playing image politics to save face.
If automotive journalists were truly investigative and not the lackadaisical glorified bloggers they've become, they would zero in on this information and save me (and a few others) the trouble of leaking the cancellation.
Instead, I see the opposite from the automotive media and them feeding into this fable, particularly where I've seen some of the dumbest rumours that have been grossly contradictory.
Such as a 2018 Tokyo Auto Show debut...yet there is no Tokyo Motor Show in even years. (I shake my head)
Truthfully, the Z35 programme got underway with early planning in 2011-12, with the styling department fully getting to work in 2012 on target for MY 2016 redesign. However, many hurdles have been met and the programme has been reset a few times.
A final design was approved by early 2017, intended for MY 2021. A very upscale design proposal won the internal competition and was considered internally the best Z design ever, to indeed share CV37 components such as the VR30DDTT and RWD architecture. Price likely would have increased quite a bit for adequate ROI.
Thus, it was cancelled by senior management 8 months ago last January, with the plan to retain the Z34 through 2021 at latest and refresh the R35 GT-R (2021).
I have been trying to explain for the better part of a year, that there is no new Z coming and to ignore EVERY tidbit if it isn't directly the CEO himself, Ghosn, or "honest" source.
Design exec Alfonso Albaisa is spinning things to drum up media interest on both GT-R and Z. There is no next GT-R before 2025 either, also the case for the Z at the moment.
The business case failed for the Z35, in relation to the new EV capable modular architecture that replaces traditional unibody RWD and profit risk. The R36 is in early stages, but has another 6 years to go at minimum.
However the R35 will be facelifted again (repeating myself) and so will the Z34, with a prolonged lifecycle. As I said before, if you are expecting a brand new Z in a few years, it's not happening.
By the time the (newly approved) Z34 refresh (2020 target) launches, all of us (internally and externally) will know if a Z35 has reached full approval for production by senior management.
In the meantime, take what the media puts out with a grain of salt. Up until this summer, Albaisa knew very well the demise of the Z35, yet either to keep up morale and not scare away potential buyers, has created a false narrative to probably convince his bosses and shareholders not to give up on the Z.
The idea was keep it unchanged through 2021, yet now a refresh was approved for a few hundred million to keep it alive longer.