While you are right... What struck me as more important was that Z sketch. Honestly, if that's an official Z sketch as stated? It's atrocious. It also seems the article is claiming direct quotes from nissan execs. Way more important than how well it was written if this has any real fact behind it?

I went to Art Center College of Design which is where half of the car designers in the world came from ( i was not a transportation design major, but I knew plenty of them). That is no pro sketch. If it is, then Nissan's standards are pretty damn low these days.

Well i hope not, because the car design in question looks about 10 years outdated and very sedan-ish.

I found some more alleged raw sketches that contradict that design.

https://forge.localmotors.com/pages/project.php?cg=9154

I know this is questionable info but, usually, one out 20 sketches will actually be a leaked official.

the article says the info came from Shiro Nakamura, but it doesn't say anything about the sketch. Judging by the poor quality of the article, I bet they just typed in Z concept on google and pasted some picture they found there.

Those look pretty sexy! Thanks for sharing

Not a fan of any of those.. But hey if they f up the next gen Z, be it by going to a 4 cyl or that it looks like ish. At least our Zs will be more valuable, and more powerful

I doubt changes to the new Z will effect the Z's value in any way other than negatively. The question is will Nissan target BR-Z buyers or as they do with the GT-R buyers who want superior performance for a lot less money.

I'm leaning toward the first which may not be a bad idea. A well engineering turbo'd 4cyl will put out more than the vq37 especially when factors such as direct injection are taken into account. Making the Z even lighter (sub 3000) pounds and keeping it at 300+ hp will give us a car that is lighter, faster and has more potential than the 370z.

Sell now guys, if you aren't going TT or S/C sell now.

i wouldn't say a turbo 4, 300+ hp, sub 3000 lb Z would be targeting the BRZ

I partially agree, if the Z trend continues (and I am sure it will) then the current gen Z will take a big hit just like the 07-08 Z (especially used market) did when the 09 370 came out.

I don't think nissan will target the brz market, I they will still target the same market but make the car more competitive to similar priced coupes, the idea of a 3,000 lbs + 300hp sounds more plausible, it would be icing on the cake if the hp was 350 or higher.:driving:

At the end of the day we all win, the Z will be iconic again.

as long as it's a better car (faster, handling, feel) and is sexy looking, I don't care how they do it, whether it's N/A, a turbo 6 or a turbo 4. Although if they mess up, I won't feel the pressure to upgrade, haha.

I personally feel that they still hold dear to the heritage of the Z too much to drop the 6 cylinders from the Z lineup. Weren't they talking about using Mercedes Benz V6'es in their lineup soon? Curious to see how much the 3.5 DI V6 could do.

Or, harken back to the 300ZX and go smaller displacement, twin turbos. :driving:

The Z's performance certainly won't go down for the next gen, especially if they continue to set the Cayman as their target competition.

Porsches 2014 cayman will be a 2900lb/350hp 2.5TT-4Banger, or at least will be an engine option. I think nissan is trying to step up to that issue. Not the FR-S. The FR-S battle with nissan is media hype to let toyota bank on american money since they are deep in the US business bed.
If toyota scion goes FI (which they said they won't. Only subie has claimed to want FI.) Then that may be a concern. I do know that toyota germany built a supercharged 320hp FT86 race car and the car looked mostly stock. Maybe Scion is preparing in case they get swallowed??? But nissan needs to focus on the budget porsche thing. They do a great job at it. FR-S worrying is wasted emotion for nissan.

IMO, the article was auto-translated from Japanese to English.

Yeah that's what I though as well.