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Nissan’s global CEO has doubled down on his previous comments about wanting to revive one of the Japanese brand’s most iconic models, the Silvia.
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Sold in Australia as the Gazelle and 200SX, the Silvia sat below the ‘Z‘ models and the Skyline GT-R in the Nissan lineup, gaining a cult following for its attainable turbocharged performance and rear-wheel drive chassis dynamics.
Mr Espinosa has been on the record in recent years about his desire to bring a small electric sports car to market, however, those comments were made when he was merely a senior executive at the Japanese automaker.
Following the departure of Makoto Uchida in April 2025, Mr Espinosa was appointed president and CEO of Nissan.
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“I would love to bring the Silvia back. I don’t know if it’s possible, because the concept is very difficult to realise in the modern era,” he told Japanese website, Karuma News.
“The S15, especially with its high-output 2.0-litre turbo engine, is one of my favorite cars in Nissan’s history. To me, it’s one of the best lightweight sports cars we’ve made.
“It’s a very light, well-tuned chassis, and the combination of chassis and powertrain is a lot of fun. I very much want to deliver a car like this,” he said, according to a translation of the interview.
“However, considering today’s regulations and crash safety performance, it is extremely difficult to create a car with such a lightweight chassis. Nevertheless, this is one of the car names I would very much like to revive.”
Nissan unveiled the IDx electric sports car concept back in 2014, a coupe that adopted retro styling that recalled the first-generation Silvia from 1965.
Over several years, Mr Espinosa has been honest about his desire to get the Silvia revived – and potentially positioned above the Z in the Nissan hierarchy – but said it may only happen with the help of a partner, suggesting it could be a future project under the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance.
Curiously, Renault’s performance arm, Alpine, has announced it will release a new A110 sports car for 2026, and the lightweight French coupe will feature an electric powertrain outputting approximately 400kW of power.
MORE: Explore the Nissan showroom
Content originally sourced from: CarExpert.com.au
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