Nissan has been spotted testing out its highly anticipated Nismo performance variant of the new Z sports coupe, which could be getting ready for a debut sometime this year.
A member of the Arizona NissanZClub by the name of Sean took a handful of photos of Nissan’s test mule, and while it might be wearing heavy camouflage, it confirms some of the design tweaks we saw on a previous Nissan Z Nismo spotted in California.
Over the standard Z, the Nismo variant with gain a split front grille design with larger intakes by the looks of it, a wider set of wheel arches, a more aggressive rear spoiler, and unique set of dual exhausts.
While Nissan is yet to confirm exactly what we can expect to see from its hardcore Z Nismo, in terms of specifications, we got a handful of clues last year.
Those came in the form of a late-2022 showcase of Nismo performance upgrades for the Z range at SEMA, which included a new cold air intake, intercooler, track exhaust, and a street twin-disc clutch and flywheel combination that are capable of handling up to 597kW.
Nissan also unveiled an upgraded coilover suspension package with adjustable dampers, 19-inch forged wheels and Nismo brakes featuring six-piston front and four-piston rear calipers with ‘track-ready’ pads – the brakes on these prototypes look bigger than the standard four-piston fronts.
As a reminder, the standard Nissan Z’s VR30 3.0-litre twin-turbo powerplant produces 298kW of power and 475Nm of torque, which means a Nismo tune could translate to around 320kW and 500Nm with some minor tweaks. We’ll have to wait for the official debut to know for sure.
During a presentation of the standard new Z in Australia, Nissan’s chief product specialist, Hiroshi Tamura, admitted there is more chance of a Nismo variant than a convertible. However, he stopped short of revealing an exact timeline.
