TOKYO — Not too way back, Nissan was wrestling with what to do about its iconic Z automobile.

Sports activities vehicles are a shrinking area of interest in a market conquered by crossovers. Then there may be the trade’s new obsession with all issues electrical, and Nissan’s appreciable monetary woes do not assist both.

Splurging to put money into a rubber-peeling internal-combustion automobile — particularly one which seats simply two folks — appeared a bit out of sync, if not outright overindulgent.

However as an alternative of hitting the brakes, Nissan Motor Co. has doubled all the way down to make the seventh-generation Z automobile probably the most highly effective within the line’s historical past, a fire-breathing, twin-turbo 3.0-liter V-6 speedster that delivers 400 hp and loads of old-school road cred for petrol-head purists.

For Nissan, which has been struggling to reignite model pleasure amid waves of crimson ink and falling gross sales, holding the Z alive was an virtually non secular crucial for rebooting all the firm.

“Z isn’t a automobile. It is a tradition,” COO Ashwani Gupta advised Automotive Information forward of final week’s reveal of the next-generation sports activities coupe at an occasion in Brooklyn, N.Y. “Now we have sufficient vehicles in our lineup to do enterprise. Z is a tradition which connects Nissan’s previous, current and future.”

However deciding on the appropriate method wasn’t straightforward.

As lately as 2018, Nissan executives had been nonetheless pondering maintain the Z automobile contemporary and revolutionary in an trade below siege by change.

High-end sports activities automobile makers, together with Ferrari, Lamborghini, Jaguar, Lotus and Porsche, have been stepping up plans to impress their lineups. And even Nissan, a one-time EV chief, has pledged to have electrified choices for all new or redesigned automobiles by the early 2030s.

Sporty EV ideas coming from Nissan, such because the ESFLOW from 2011, fueled hypothesis that an electrified Z is perhaps within the playing cards. But when that occurs in any respect, it seems to be kicked into the following decade.

Sticking with piston energy for now helps Nissan get to market quick with a chunk of eye sweet that’s pitched as a heritage automobile “constructed for fanatics, by fanatics.”

Sticking with gasoline additionally helps Nissan maintain the Z true to its roots as an reasonably priced enjoyable automobile — with out the additional price of bolting on an electrical motor and expensive battery.

The corporate hasn’t talked pricing but, however the sticker is predicted to begin round $40,000. And enthusiastic sellers, longing for some new choices, say there will likely be loads of curiosity.

“Electrification is the long run that everybody is speaking about. However immediately, in 2021 and 2022, there may be nonetheless a terrific thirst for inside combustion vehicles,” stated Invoice Wallace, CEO of Wallace Auto Group, which operates a Nissan retailer in Stuart, Fla. “It does not concern me in any respect that it isn’t electrical. It is going to deliver extra site visitors into the shop. We might promote each unit we get.”

Nissan is hardly alone in banking on the sporty coupe area of interest. Toyota and Subaru, for instance, are launching a second technology of their collectively developed everyman’s sports activities coupe, the Toyota GR 86 and Subaru BRZ. Toyota’s model, which arrives in November, will begin below $30,000.

Automakers say these vehicles have a particular enchantment with middle-age males. And whereas that section isn’t particularly excessive quantity, it does have a loyal fan base of well-heeled prospects.

The Z arrives within the U.S. subsequent spring, with international gross sales centered primarily on the U.S. and Japan.

“One and a half years earlier than, we had been battling make the Z,” Gupta stated. “I feel it is time for us to have a good time the nice second of getting an iconic automobile, regardless of all of the challenges we had.

“How typically are you able to describe a automobile with one letter?” he stated.

Certainly, Nissan is dumping the automobile’s numeric nomenclature. The long-awaited redesign — the primary since 2009 — will likely be rechristened merely as “Z.” That squashes earlier hypothesis that the replace of the the present 370Z is perhaps referred to as the 400Z, to level out its pumped-up horsepower and efficiency.

The brand new Z features 68 hp and a 30 % improve in torque. Additionally it is faster off the road, eking out a 15 % enchancment within the automobile’s 0 to 60 mph time. The usual setup mates the engine to a six-speed handbook transmission. A nine-speed automated can be out there, a step up from the outgoing seven-speed.

Nissan says to anticipate higher dealing with, due to a extra inflexible physique, digital energy steering with rack help, wider entrance tires and light-weight aluminum sheeting within the hood, doorways and hatch.

Engineers tweaked the entrance double-wishbone suspension and the rear multilink aluminum setup to enhance journey consolation and stability. The redesign makes use of the identical chassis because the outgoing 370Z, however 80 % of the package deal is all new, together with the contemporary powertrain and suspension.

Retro-styled on the surface, high-tech on the within, Nissan’s newest Z automobile is partly an homage to the automobile’s origins and partly a sign of Nissan’s new path.

Among the many Z’s throwbacks to the first-generation 240Z, which debuted some 5 many years in the past below the Datsun model within the U.S., is the signature silhouette — a protracted hood, pointy nostril and brief, sloping rear deck.

A number of the Twenty first-century accoutrements embrace LED headlamps and a 12.3-inch digital meter show. Then there may be the plethora of contemporary upgrades that embrace clever cruise management, an auto-dimming rearview mirror, a rearview monitor, USB ports and entrance and rear sonar sensors.

Nissan didn’t launch a curb weight for the upcoming automobile. However the redesign is about 5 inches longer than the present 370Z, regardless of holding the identical width and peak.