So the first Z that will have no number attached to it. Reminds me of "New Beetle", eek. Hopefully the outcome will be better than VW's.
A theory though. In todays environment with this generations inability to latch onto something and stick with it, maybe there has been a paradigm shift to where no matter the product, the attention span of a flea will be the downfall of many great products. There are a few cars that were supposed to make a splash, but fizzled.

In addition to that I have a niggling thought back there telling me that people are more interested in the latest electric cars. I do wonder if that will affect it. Then again we in Europe where electrification is the new fad aren’t worthy of it so maybe it will be fine in the US and RoW.

Car are way too complicated today. Manufactured obsolescence is a business model. All the plastic and electronics are meant to be thrown away not repaired. If the 12” screen fails in 10 years good luck replacing it or pay a fortune.
We have this problem in military aviation. We are forced to upgrade perfectly good items across the fleet because nobody makes the parts anymore. In order to incentivize manufacturing we would pay crazy amounts for otherwise very inexpensive parts.
Car companies don’t want your to keep you car more than 10 yrs. I once owned a BMW. The pasts were so outrageous I got rid of it. $1800 for one headlight assembly because it would follow the road. The car had more plastic than a Las Vegas stripper. Plastic coolant parts?
There is beauty in simplicity. You can almost keep your classic Z running forever with little cost because it simple proven technology. The second part of the auto problem is government regulations which continue adding complexity and cost to cars. The new infrastructure bill just passed by the Senate requires all US cars to have Drunk Driver Detection systems installed at manufacturing. This drives car prices out of reach of the lower income population segments and makes repair and maintenance outrageous. There are always unintended consequences of regulation.
I’m curious to see what Nissan gives us but their recent history isn’t giving me much confidence. As far as EVs, they’re coming like it or not. Won’t be long before you are guilted to sell your gas powered vehicle or the government forces your hand like CA has done.


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4 hours ago, DC871F said:

So the first Z that will have no number attached to it.

Not the case. S30-S and S30-D, Fairlady Z and Fairlady Z-L started the ball rolling for the S30-series and the tradition was carried through subsequent generations. The '240Z' name was an afterthought.

5 hours ago, siteunseen said:

I was referring to the horn button. Looks similar to the '75 and '76 280's to me?

How about 1969:

 

The '75s and '76s have the outward profile where my '72 and '77 are the indented style. I hope I'm describing that correctly? 

Thank you for replying.

14 minutes ago, siteunseen said:

The '75s and '76s have the outward profile where my '72 and '77 are the indented style. I hope I'm describing that correctly? 

Thank you for replying.

I was thinking more of the big letter 'Z' in the middle of it...

i.e. Not 'Datsun'. My theory is that the designers were probably not looking at '75 and '76 year steering wheels for detail inspiration.

Same goes for the quarter emblems. The press and the talking heads are babbling about "the 240Z" references in the styling details, but the new car's quarter emblems seem to me to be referencing the original Japanese market 'Z' quarter emblems.

1 hour ago, Av8ferg said:

 Won’t be long before you are guilted to sell your gas powered vehicle or the government forces your hand like CA has done.

Well, one part of the Government.

44 minutes ago, HS30-H said:

Not the case. S30-S and S30-D, Fairlady Z and Fairlady Z-L started the ball rolling for the S30-series and the tradition was carried through subsequent generations. The '240Z' name was an afterthought.

How about 1969:

 

In the States they always had the numerical identification. I get your drift though.

The Z reveal at the ZCON track event:

 

 

On 8/19/2021 at 2:00 PM, DC871F said:

So the first Z that will have no number attached to it. Reminds me of "New Beetle", eek. Hopefully the outcome will be better than VW's.

A theory though. In todays environment with this generations inability to latch onto something and stick with it, maybe there has been a paradigm shift to where no matter the product, the attention span of a flea will be the downfall of many great products. There are a few cars that were supposed to make a splash, but fizzled.

The engine size is irrelevant with new technology and turbocharging. Future electrification also would be a factor. Nissan Z is the logical resolution for the badging convention.

21 minutes ago, bpilati said:

The engine size is irrelevant with new technology and turbocharging. Future electrification also would be a factor. Nissan Z is the logical resolution for the badging convention.

Good point. It's not like electric motors have a displacement.

Pfffft to what it looks like, the thing is it uses the 370Z structure and that car never made on the track. So have Nissan kidnapped some chassis experts to sort the thing out with some better grip controllable on the limit and comparable with the Euros? This would not cost a lot of money just a determination to do it right like they did in 1969.

45 minutes ago, 260DET said:

...the thing is it uses the 370Z structure and that car never made on the track.

Plenty of Z34-based race cars have been built and used in anger. They even had a Spec Series for them.