It looks as though the earlier report, incredulous as it seemed at first, was indeed real. Nissan appears to actually be turning its hallowed Fairlady Z sports car into a performance crossover, and is previewing it with the Nissan Gripz Concept (earlier thought to presage the Juke’s replacement) at the upcoming 2015 Frankfurt Motor Show to test the enthusiast water.
According to the brand, the show car was inspired by the 240Z rally cars that won the East African Safari Rally in 1971 and 1973, as is apparent by the two-tone red and bare carbon colour scheme in this teaser. It’s supposedly also inspired by road-racing bicycles – that bit’s not so apparent. Elsewhere, the Gripz is fairly reminiscent of the Juke, with slim arrow-shaped upper headlights and a deep, prominent “V-Motion” grille.
The previous report by Autocar UK suggested that the production version of the Gripz will be priced significantly lower than the 370Z it replaces in the Z-car lineup, slotting just under the Qashqai/X-Trail in the Nissan range when it arrives in 18 months. It’s said to be built on the new Renault-Nissan CMF-B architecture shared with the next March and Juke, powered by a 1.6 litre turbo engine – likely the Juke Nismo’s mill.
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Very clever in tapping the hugely lucrative compact crossover (or SUV) market which is booming. With good design and safety features, Nissan might just hit the jackpot
Bigger version of Juke?