Autoblog

Last December we reported that Nissan was seriously considering a rear-wheel-drive replacement for the much missed 240SX, a.k.a. the Silvia in Japan. Rumors have continued to surface since then of Nissan's plans, with Winding Road even posting spy shots of a mule this past summer that may have been such a car undergoing testing. Another blog by the name of Rocket Punch Auto Blog claims to know that a new Silvia has gotten the green light and will arrive by 2010 with a price point between ¥2,000,000 and 2,500,000 ($18,435 and 23,044 USD). These renderings (click here to view rear shot) show what a new 240SX and Silvia might look like when it debuts on a modified version of the 350Z's platform. Regardless of how the car looks, the prospect of a new reasonably-priced rear-wheel-drive offering from any automaker is exciting news to us. We await the day in the near future when Nissan's 240SX/Silvia descendant shares a stoplight with a new incarnation of Toyota's famous AE86, which is also rumored to be in development. Throw in a Pontiac Solstice Coupe for good measure and we have ourselves a new bang-for-the-buck performance segment.

[Source: Rocket Punch Auto Blog via Motor Authority]

Japan's top two auto makers have a long and sordid history of ripping off each other's successful designs. No sooner had the Nissan Cube become a run away success in its home market than Toyota came up with the similarly boxy bB (Scion xB). Many years earlier, after the Toyota HiLux Surf (4Runner) proved a hit with, well, surfers, Nissan restyled their Terrano with nigh on identical lines, hoping to ride on the coattails of the Toyota. And let's not get in to the Supra vs. Z and Celica vs. Skyline wars.

Now, just weeks after confirming that Toyota does indeed have a successor to the lauded AE86 in the pipeline, Best Car magazine claims to have evidence that Nissan has got a team working on building a new Silvia. Like the final 2002 S15 Spec R Silvia the new car is reckoned to be powered by a turbocharged two-liter good for 247 HP, but will just be 10 kgs heavier at one and a quarter metric tons (2450lbs).

The new range should sell for between 2.5 and 2.8 million Yen ($21,000 - $23,700), but not until 2010. Best Car's scoop ties in nicely with photographs of a shortened Z, most likely a mule testing a new, smaller FR drive train, taken at the ring earlier in the summer. If the new Silvia is indeed to be based on a modified Z/Skyline LM platform, expect a similar wheelbase of 8' 6", but smaller overall dimensions, around 14' 4" long by 5' 8" wide.

Chances of Nissan bringing a concept car, possibly derived from the URGE shown in Detroit last year, to October's Tokyo Motor Show? 60-percet according to the magazine.

[Source: Best Car]

Last week we told you about Nissan's plan to revise the 350Z and add a new, smaller RWD sports coupe to its lineup. All of a sudden, pics of that smaller sports coupe have appeared today on the interweb. Winding Road has a few clear shots of an oddly shaped 350Z-based mule tagging along behind a Porsche Boxster. The car looks a lot like a 350Z, but is much shorter overall and has spy photographers speculating it will be the Z-car's baby bro'.

Whether a new Z-car, new 240SX or whatever, it's just a mule for now. The Urge Concept is said to be the inspiration for the shape of the new small sports coupe, so hopefully future prototypes will be wearing a body we can recognize as influenced by that concept. There's no word on a powerplant for this new coupe, but we've already voted for a turbocharged version of the SE-R Spec-V QR25DE motor, just in case Nissan is listening. Hopefully it will be rear-drive, as well, but that goes without saying on a car like this. Click the Read link or the pic to view a few larger photos of this odd mule.

[Source: Winding Road]

Call it the Silvia or the 240SX or the 200SX (read up on the various names of the 200SX and where they were sold in the world here), but Nissan's now demised budget rear-wheel drive platform has been sorely missed in its homeland of Japan, in our own North America and elsewhere around the world. Word has it, however, that Nissan is considering a new rear-wheel drive coupe that would take up the 200SX cause of rear-wheel drive fun for the huddled masses. The Foria Concept (shown above) that debuted at the 2005 Tokyo Motor Show is the front running candidate to become a new 200SX, considering the good reaction it garnered at that year's show. Don't count out the Urge, however, which was unveiled at the 2005 Detroit Auto Show. AutoCar reports that Nissan is even open to producing a mid-engine car to slot below the 350Z. Whatever plan gets pinned down for production, we just hope Nissan keeps it rear-wheel drive and starts it around $20k - $22k. That seems to be the hot spot where a Ford Mustang V6, Pontiac Solstice and Mazda Miata would all be on the same shopping list for a RWD sports car.

[Source: AutoCar]