Design Chief: Nissan IDx And Z Could Be Same Future Sports Car

Could a completely new production model based on the well-received IDx Freeflow and IDx NISMO concepts be the same model that's also a fully reengineered next-generation Nissan Z and successor to the current 370Z?

They very well could be merged into one, conceded design chief and senior vice president Shiro Nakamura, in an interview with Motor Authority at the Paris Auto Show this past week. According to Nakamura, Nissan wants to continue the lineage of the Z, but it only has room for two sports cars in the lineup.

MUST SEE: Production-Ready Aeromobil Flying Car To Debut This Month: Video

This news coincides with what then executive vice president Andy Palmer hinted prior to the 2013 Tokyo Motor Show, where the IDx models were originally introduced, yet runs counter to what was reported after the show, suggesting that Nissan lacks a platform; that it might instead be built as a front-wheel-drive car; or that it would be compromised with a downsized version of the current Z platform.

Two pute sports cars in Nissan's future—and GT-R is one of them

Nakamura admitted that sports cars are becoming difficult to make financially viable for a mainstream brand like Nissan, and that there can be no more than two pure sports cars in the automaker's lineup.

“We will continue producing sports cars...it's the heart of Nissan,” said Nakamura. “But 'how' is not simple, and GT-R, the quickest production sports car in the world, has to stay in that position.”

The GT-R is most definitely part of that two-sports-car future, the executive assured—and there will be plenty of other sporty cars that meet the definition of a sports car to some, like the Juke NISMO RS, he added. The current GT-R, although it received a major update this year, is now seven years along in its product cycle; and a next-generation GT-R, while under development, is still at least three years out.