Nissan considering Toyota 86 rival

Nissan's 370Z coupe is unlikely to be succeeded by a new model following the same format.

The manufacturer's senior vice president and chief creative officer, Shiro Nakamura, says the traditional Z-car recipe is overdue for a shakeup.

"[The 370Z] is a very expensive car," he says.

"Therefore we have to make a revolution, a repositioning. I don't think we have a future of $60,000 and 3.7-litre engine, it's very expensive not only in price but in running costs."

Nakamura says that although the next GT-R will be closely related to the current model, "the Z is a different story".

"The GT-R is more evolution. I feel Z needs more revolution than evolution," he says.

"[After] 350Z, 370Z I don't think the next one will be 390Z. It's not growing, it's already big enough. "I don't think we should go any higher, maybe go backwards.

"We haven't decided anything about the next-generation Z, whether it should be larger or have more power.

"We need to take another pass."

Just as there was a gestation period separating the 1990s Nissan 300ZX with its millennial 350Z successor, Nakamura says there could be a gap between the death of the current-generation 370Z and its eventual replacement.

The brand has a history of offering three tiers of performance coupe such as the four-cylinder 200SX, six-cylinder 350Z and the turbocharged Skyline GT-R that were sold concurrently in Japan.

But the Japanese executive says Nissan will limit itself to just two sports cars in the future, the GT-R and a more affordable cousin that may challenge the heritage of its six-cylinder, 2+2 Z-cars.

Cheaper, four-cylinder models are under consideration, and could emerge as a Toyota 86 rival in a similar vein to Nissan's Datsun 1600-inspired IDX Concept.

"We are trying to do a couple of new alternatives for next-generation Z," he says.

"IDX, that could be a next-generation Z, that's one of the options.

"IDX is so much supported by you guys, but financially the decision is a separate story.

"I think the Toyota 86 is a good car, almost like the original 240Z.

"The original 240Z is not really a pure sports car, it's more like... lifestyle, and trendy."