370z designed in the U.S?

bmarcinczyk14

my uncle told me that pretty much all japanese cars are designed by people in the u.s. is this true? was the 370z designed in the u.s, or is it a completley japanese design? he said the engine and stuff is japanese doing, but as far as the design goes, thats american.

MC

Interview: Randy Rodriguez, Designer, Nissan 370Z

__________________
2015 GT-R N1SMO "THE ONE"
Instagram MCGTRN1SMO
Youtube MCGTRNISMO

edeeZee

The Japanese cars you see in the U.S. are the "mainstream" Japanese cars. The esoteric or JDM ones e.g. Suzuki Cappucino, or the recent wave of "Scion-type" cars i.e. Nissan Cube and the likes are innately Japanese. However, the mainstream Japanese cars a la Z, Accord, Camry are probably desgined here for the raw concept, but the refining and final touches are Japanese.

need4speed

Agreed. Scion box cars nissan cube etc and other quirky subcompact designs are usually native origin cars as also are the expensive cars. (In most cases)
But let me also add.

The general market cars. (Cars catered to the middle class) are designed and produced
In what is now a globalized market. The days of one country taking credit for a car or design are days that are 85% over. Examples:

Randy Rodriguez entered what was a designer lottery and won. Nissan wasn't sure which way to go with the 370z and asked over 200 designers globally to come up with there next design. And Randy, a filipino american designer out of california won that bid. The engineering in the car. The structural chassis design and functional design are all japanese.
Randy designed the body style and gave the general synopsis of how the car should be built around his design. It was the collabo of marketers and engineers who gave the designers the summary of what they wanted out of the next Z design. So this car is truely a global effort but not as thick of a global effort as our american corps.

Chevy Camaro... designed in Australia. Built in canada.
As much as redneck america wants to buy american with this car. Most profits will be outsourced appropiately to the corresponding offices and a low foreign corporate tax will be paid in that country stimulating there economy. We pay the import tax in the msrp in camaro.

2011 Chevy Cruze. The upcoming game changer of the american econocar market is actually a South Korean research,design and enginnering. Where it will be built is being discussed but my guess this platform will most likely be built in mexico, where the cobalt was built.
Most cars from gm are built outside the country. Only the SUV's were exclusively built here except for the equinox.

Hyundai genesis coupe is the car that interestingly is very american though its built in south korea. This car was designed by young american desgners. Engineered mostly by americans as well. 80% of this car is american. In many ways the hyundai genesis coupe is more american than camaro when u look at all who are the shotcallers on this car.
This car was John Krafcik's project and he was the american 90% responsible for this car.
Not to mention that north koreans pay nearly 30% more for this car so we don't pay import tax in our msrp and keep the cost down. Foreign countries look out for our pockets more than our own companies.

The only americans responsible for anything on the camaro was a board of directors that either approved or disapproved design aspects of the camaro. The camaro is really a collaboration of australian and german engineers.

So basically what your uncle is tellingu is a sliver of truth as to show patriotism even if he so called "sold out" for a foreign car. He can say it was designed here or whatever.
Now u can go back n tell ur uncle that the market is a global one and the global economy gets stimulated no matter which car u buy. Its just how companies manage there money and make there logistics decisions is how companies fail today. Its not about u not buying domestic. Remember, gm had saab. Ford is partnered with mazda, jaguar, rolls royce and volvo. I probably missed a couple more.
Chrysler was with benz and now with fiat. Not to mention they are partners with mitsubishi.

All econo cars made by chevy in the 80's n 90's were mainly toyota and suzuki derived. So its also been going on for a while. It just got bigger.

6MT

Randy is Canadian.

__________________
Andrew

2009 370Z Sport/Touring 6MT sold
2013 Honda Civic Si coupe D/D

Dallas-Z

This is kinda off topic, not much per say, but I remember reading an article about the Honda civic about a few years back. Honda released the "new" civic, but every trim was a hatch (I believe 01 to 06?) and the japanese brass could not for the life of them figure out why it was not selling in the US. Yet, it sold like hotcakes in Japan. After some market research, the older 4 door civics sold like hotcakes here in the US, then the switch to hatch. The US consumer really didn't want the hatch at all.

I believe other companies kinda picked up on this and now have a research team that is region based to make sure that when they do design a car or trim, that it is appealing to the market they want to sell it to.

Lug

True, but he did design it in the US.

__________________
keep Chubbs in your pocket - Chubbs

bmarcinczyk14

how about the new gt-r? is that 100% japanese design? and the older skylines? is the vq37vhr engine at lease 100% japanese?

jmlenz

I think it was designed in Nissan's San Diego, CA design center no?

FricFrac

Hehe sounds like Alexander G Bell. Born in Scotland, lived in Canada and did business in the US. Everyone claimed him as their own. Truth is most of his research was done in Canada - the country he loved

...anyhow the original Z was designed for the North American market so while it was designed in Japan its target market was over here. I think there was only about 3% of the 240Z sold in Japan. The 370Z is the same - its target is North America which is the reason it was released here first and the majority of the cars are sold here. Funny that its made in Japan when so many other Nissans are made in Canada and the US.

__________________
'09 370Z - '93 300ZX Vert - '83 280ZX - '83 280ZXT -'81 280ZXT stroker - '72 240Z - Stillen CBE, HFC, G3, Grounding Kit, Sways // Swift Spring // H&R 15mm // 5% Tint // Clear Bra //

GTRFAN

It's all a global effort these days. No one car can be 100% Japanese or whatever. The designers, engineers, clay modellers, stylers, interior designers, etc are from all over the world and aim to customise the car to the target country.

Look at the Pontiac G8 and the new 2010 Camaro. They are both GM collaborative Australian and US designs. We basically get a GM V8 engine from you guys and then design and wrap a car around it that can actually handle around corners. You guys make better engines, we make better chassis. Works well.

smurfblu13

If I'm not mistaken isn't the G8 a Holden pretty much through and through, well minus the engine. Same went with the GTO being a Holden Monaro?

bmarcinczyk14

did you not read the interview? it was not designed in japan, it was designed by a canadian who lives here in the states

FricFrac

OK. Take two seconds and re-read my post. You can appolgize after. Better yet let me disect it for ya....

"...anyhow the original Z was designed for the North American market so while it was designed in Japan its target market was over here. I think there was only about 3% of the 240Z sold in Japan. The 370Z is the same - its target is North America which is the reason it was released here first and the majority of the cars are sold here. Funny that its made in Japan when so many other Nissans are made in Canada and the US."

Origninal Z = 240Z from 1970. Designed in Japan for the North American Market.

New 370Z again designed for the North American Market. Didn't say it was DESIGNED in Japan I said it was MADE in Japan.

__________________
'09 370Z - '93 300ZX Vert - '83 280ZX - '83 280ZXT -'81 280ZXT stroker - '72 240Z - Stillen CBE, HFC, G3, Grounding Kit, Sways // Swift Spring // H&R 15mm // 5% Tint // Clear Bra //