A close look at the history of Nissan cars will reveal a roller coaster ride decades long. The high of the early '70s--when Datsun dealers briefly sold the 2000 Roadster, 240Z, 510 and 1200 simultaneously and had waiting lists months long--was followed by a series of dips and surges in the form of the 610, 710 and F10.
Perhaps the ultimate double-dip death spiral was the 1978 200SX, a car later described by the very man who designed it as "the stupid-looking Siliva." After a confusing name change and another decade of uninspired cars, Nissan came back with a vengance in the early '90s, introducing the Sentra SE-R and 240SX, turning the Maxima into a true sports sedan, and wowing the world with the incredible twin-turbo 300ZX. And then the death spiral hit again. The cars got soft, sales plummeted, and all the books went red.
The end of that dip is upon us, and the cars on this page represent the first, and probably the most exciting, of 10 new models Nissan is set to introduce over the next three years. New money and new management from Renault, Nissan's financial saviour, have managed not to re-invent the company, but to re-introduce Nissan to its own heritage. Nissan's success in America has always hinged on two things: trucks, which have already helped bring the company back into the black and cars that offer exceptional performance at a reasonable cost. Welcome back, horsepower.
We were given a sneak peek at two of the cars that are set to bring Nissan back from the brink. First is the new, highly anticipated Z, which promises to return to the low-priced roots of the 240Z while maintaining the world-beating performance of the 300ZX Twin Turbo. Next is the giant killer Sentra SE-R, which promises to deliver performance to run with the Integra Type R with a price tag that undercuts Acura by more than $5,000. This is going to be fun.