The Nissan Z car is one of Japan's most iconic contribution to the sports car world. Over the years, it's had many ups and downs, but the vintage 240Z has been an almost constant source of excitement and inspiration.
The number of epic 240Z and 280Z builds that have come out in the past few years tells us people still love the 70s design language. Last week, Nissan released a teaser for its 2021 models, and among them was the sexy silhouette of the new Z car.
This isn't that car. Russian designer Ilya Zakharov took the 240Z inspiration in an entirely different direction. The artist currently working at Lada put together the "Z-Vision" as his bachelor thesis a few years back.
While Nissan is undoubtedly working to preserve the round headlights and soft curves, Ilya scrapped all those and just applied the modern esthetics of recent concept cars.
IMQ, IMx Kuro, Xmotion - these are just some of the recent studies that Nissan fitted with these angular headlights. Of course, the plot started with the Vmotion 2.0 of 2017. These features have already made their impact on various production sedans, like the latest Sentra and Altima, while the Rogue is also about to adopt them for its 2021 generation.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the design is that it's asymmetrical. The hood traces a long S-curve, which leads your eye to the cockpit. The driver sits a few inches further than his passenger, and both the roof and the windshield are a reflection of this change.
We feel like there's a hint of the Leaf in this study too. Just look at the raised rear, the taillights that climb toward the roof and the front end, all hinting at the popular EV's design language.
Thankfully, even though Nissan is a huge environmental advocate, it's resisted the urge to make an electric Z sports car. Instead, the new model is expected to develop around 400 ponies thanks to the 3.0-liter twin-turbo from the Infiniti Q50/Q60.
This isn't that car. Russian designer Ilya Zakharov took the 240Z inspiration in an entirely different direction. The artist currently working at Lada put together the "Z-Vision" as his bachelor thesis a few years back.
While Nissan is undoubtedly working to preserve the round headlights and soft curves, Ilya scrapped all those and just applied the modern esthetics of recent concept cars.
IMQ, IMx Kuro, Xmotion - these are just some of the recent studies that Nissan fitted with these angular headlights. Of course, the plot started with the Vmotion 2.0 of 2017. These features have already made their impact on various production sedans, like the latest Sentra and Altima, while the Rogue is also about to adopt them for its 2021 generation.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the design is that it's asymmetrical. The hood traces a long S-curve, which leads your eye to the cockpit. The driver sits a few inches further than his passenger, and both the roof and the windshield are a reflection of this change.
We feel like there's a hint of the Leaf in this study too. Just look at the raised rear, the taillights that climb toward the roof and the front end, all hinting at the popular EV's design language.
Thankfully, even though Nissan is a huge environmental advocate, it's resisted the urge to make an electric Z sports car. Instead, the new model is expected to develop around 400 ponies thanks to the 3.0-liter twin-turbo from the Infiniti Q50/Q60.