The Nissan 400Z will remain true to its aesthetic and mechanical principles

For some it will be a cold shower, for others a reason to keep believing in the purest, most traditional or retro sports cars, since, looking back at one of the modern classics among affordable sports cars such as the Nissan 350Z and its successor, the Nissan 370Z, especially in its Nismo guise, a true unicorn, the fact that the Nissan 400Z engine remains committed solely and exclusively to gasoline as its energy source means that, at least as it is presented, the new Zeta will be neither hybrid nor, much less, electric.

This conclusion comes from the statements of one of the top global executives at Nissan, Iván Espinosa. The Mexican, one of the figures with the greatest weight in the brand’s organisation chart, spoke to the press at the presentation in Yokohama of the Nissan Ariya and, although it was a moment for which it is the next step in the evolution of the Japanese firm, which in fact took advantage of the occasion to present its new image and new emblem, he also had time to answer some questions about the new-generation sports car.

And it is that, with all the interest this car has aroused and, within an environment where electricity was the co-star of the presentation, and with rumours pointing to the electrification of the Nissan 400Z engine, the question about an electrified sports car had its place.

The executive from Nissan then left no room for doubt: it is not the time for an electrified Zeta, no, not for now. Espinosa justified it from an almost sentimental standpoint which, in times when only the politically correct answer is the accepted current, is appreciated.

And it is that the Nissan 400Z must be a car that remains faithful to a philosophy based on the enjoyment of driving wrapped in an irrefutable physical appeal.

For this reason, the burden represented by the battery system of the electric powertrain conditions performance in sporting situations such as a track day.

Even though newly developed vehicles made by Nissan, such as the Nissan Ariya itself, offer configurations that in theory are worthy of a sports car, such as the nearly 400 CV produced in its most powerful variant and associated with all-wheel drive, or others that, like the Honda we enjoyed during its presentation and test, have a propulsion layout based on a not-to-be-dismissed engine of 152 CV and 315 Nm of torque, for Espinosa, electric technology cannot yet be applied to the base principle of the successor to the Nissan 370Z.

This means that, once again, without confirmation, the engine block Nissan would opt for seems increasingly clear: it should be a 3.0-litre, V6, twin-turbo producing 400 CV, bringing to life what we hope will be a retro-style car with the technology of our times, where carbon dioxide emission rates condition the sale of new cars.