- Nissan showed off a concept car evoking the 1990s 300ZX and its t-top removable roof panels.
- The Nissan Z Kaze Concept is a retro take on the 400-horsepower Z sports coupe.
- Other retro tuner elements include flared fenders, 18-inch forged NISMO wheels wrapped in wide tires, and a teal coat.
Nissan peeled back the roof on the Z Kaze Concept car on Wednesday in Phoenix, Arizona. The concept uses the 2027 Nissan Z as a base and adds tuner elements popular in the 1990s, including a t-top roof with twin removable roof panels.
“The Z Kaze concept celebrates some of Nissan’s most iconic open top sports cars, while recognizing the ’90s tuning culture that helped put Nissan and NISMO on the map,” Ponz Pandikuthira, senior vice president, chief product and planning officer of Nissan Americas, said in a statement. “This passion project combines Nissan’s engineering excellence, creativity and celebration of the brand’s heritage.”
The last Nissan Z fitted with t-tops was the 1996 Nissan 300ZX. That marked the end of a tradition dating back to the second-generation Z, which was actually a Datsun. The iconic 1979 Datsun 280 ZX had four seats and two heavy glass roof panels that converted it into a kind of hardtop convertible coupe.
The “Kaze” part of the Z Kaze Concept means “wind” in Japanese.
Coated in Pacific Teal paint, the Z Kaze features flared fenders over 18-inch NISMO LMGT2 wheels. Those forged 2-piece wheels are derived from the LMGT1 wheels fitted on the rare NISMO 400R, which itself honored Nissan’s GT1 that ran in the Le Mans 24-hour endurance race in France in the mid-1990s.
Nissan made just 44 NISMO 400R models, and that version of Godzilla (a common nickname for the GT-R) was considered the king of all the beasts. Now the Z Kaze Concept gets some of that vaunted heritage. Staggered tires measuring 10 inches wide up front and 11 inches in the rear wrap around forged wheels.
Other retro-inspired accents from the tuner culture of the 1990s include a vented carbon-fiber hood and a carbon-fiber body kit. Inside, Bose headrest speakers could offset the wind noise, and white leather upholstery deflects the sun’s rays.
Other modern touches include the 400-horsepower 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6 powering the 2027 Nissan Z, which is one of the few sports coupes left with a starting price below $50,000. Nissan said the V6 has been upfitted with a modified exhaust system, an air-to-air intercooler kit, and an air filter kit by the tuning company GReddy
The Nissan Z Kaze is a show car on display through the weekend at the ZCON convention of Z diehards in Phoenix.
While it’ll never be on sale to the public, Nissan promised to return to its enthusiast and off-road roots in the U.S. and a streamlined product line.
In April, Nissan detailed plans to trim its global lineup by 20% and also bring back the Xterra off-road SUV to the U.S. Rumors claim that a Skyline sedan will appear in Japan and possibly under the Infiniti luxury brand in the U.S. Historically, the Skyline was Nissan’s first sports car and the eventual predecessor to the modern GT-R supercar.
