Report: The Nissan Z and IDx Might Be Merged

Nissan IDx Nismo concept (Credit: Nissan )

Some rumors sound so crazy that there’s no way they’re true, like that Ben Affleck will star in the next Batman movie. And sometimes those crazy rumors turn out to be true, just like a bad nightmare of Ben Affleck playing Batman. The only thing left to do at that point is to pray that everything turns out alright. At the moment, some Nismo fans might think they’ve stepped into a nightmarish situation, or at least a bizarre one as it looks entirely possible that the next Z car will be both an evolution of the 370Z and the IDx concept.

The news, which still sounds unbelievable, was first broken by MotorAuthority during an interview with Nissan design chief and senior vice president Shiro Nakamura. The occasion was the Paris Auto Show, when automakers are eager to divulge some juicy details and what’s coming down the chute. During the interview, Nakamura was firm in declaring that Nissan will not create a three-model sports car lineup like what Toyota and others are planning. Instead, the company plans to keep it to only two models, with Godzilla staying at the top.

Why the change in strategy? According to the MotorAuthority interview it all has to do with revenue. Whether gearheads like to admit it or not, the automotive industry is driven by profits, because if an automaker stops making money it becomes a Saab or Lotus, and that’s a sad scenario. Nakamura said that sports cars do not provide the kind of profit margins for Nissan that some other models generate, which means that adding a third model would place an unnecessary burden on the company.

The Nissan Z carries a considerable amount of heritage and likely would never be done away with. On the other hand, the 370Z has become so large and expensive that it has distanced the Z line from many car shoppers, which seems to be something Nissan is considering correcting by creating a smaller next-generation model that is at least partially inspired by the IDx.