Photo: Nissan Motors
The boss of European design for Nissan, Matthew Weaver, spent some time reimagining one of the iconic first-generation cars from the Japanese marque, the Nissan Silvia, and his update sees the car as a modern electric version.
The original CSP311 Silvia was unveiled at the 1964 Tokyo Motor Show, and it was a direct progenitor of the Nissa S13 and S14 generations - cars that were ultimately sold in the U.S. as the fabulous Nissan 240SX.
The first generation Silvia CSP311 was rolled out as “Datsun Coupe 1500” and was released in 1965 as a Nissan model with the name Silvia after a goddess in Greek mythology. The exterior and interior were designed by Nissan Kimura and Yoshida, who took the advice of outside consultants to complete the jewel-like styling.
Just 550 units were built over the course of four years due to the manufacturing requirements imposed by the car’s nearly seamless bodywork. At the time, it was known as the pioneer of JDM sports coupes and the first highway police car in Japan.
But Weaver was a bit pained that the CSP311 is so rare that many Nissan employees had never seen one in on the floor.
"The Silvia was ahead of its time, in a very quiet understated way," Weaver said. "By redesigning this car for the future, we wanted to pay homage to that heritage."
Weaver and his team preserved the classic features of the original, including many of the styling cues. In this EV version, Weaver was able to downsize the grille and smooth out some of the lines required of a petrol version.
Nissan is very, very serious about designing and building EV sports cars, but their current efforts are directed more toward rolling out market-friendly vehicles like the next in the line, the Ariya crossover.
The Ariya hopes to achieve 300 miles of range and an MSRP under$40,000 USD, and it’s set to debut in the U.S. market sometime early in 2022.
The first generation Silvia CSP311 was rolled out as “Datsun Coupe 1500” and was released in 1965 as a Nissan model with the name Silvia after a goddess in Greek mythology. The exterior and interior were designed by Nissan Kimura and Yoshida, who took the advice of outside consultants to complete the jewel-like styling.
Just 550 units were built over the course of four years due to the manufacturing requirements imposed by the car’s nearly seamless bodywork. At the time, it was known as the pioneer of JDM sports coupes and the first highway police car in Japan.
But Weaver was a bit pained that the CSP311 is so rare that many Nissan employees had never seen one in on the floor.
"The Silvia was ahead of its time, in a very quiet understated way," Weaver said. "By redesigning this car for the future, we wanted to pay homage to that heritage."
Weaver and his team preserved the classic features of the original, including many of the styling cues. In this EV version, Weaver was able to downsize the grille and smooth out some of the lines required of a petrol version.
Nissan is very, very serious about designing and building EV sports cars, but their current efforts are directed more toward rolling out market-friendly vehicles like the next in the line, the Ariya crossover.
The Ariya hopes to achieve 300 miles of range and an MSRP under$40,000 USD, and it’s set to debut in the U.S. market sometime early in 2022.
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