We don't need new versions of these cars | The Inverell Times - Australia News Beep

We don't need new versions of these cars We don’t need new versions of these cars

Recently, a realisation from behind the wheel of the current generation of a widely beloved rear-drive two-door coupe raised a question for me.

Are sports cars doomed? The question came as I realised that because of the development of the car I was driving, the 2026 Nissan Z (specifically the Heritage Edition), underneath was essentially a Nissan 350Z that had been given enough surgery to be relevant in two decades later.

But the last of the ancient platforms won’t be around for much longer, surely, and the cars built on them are, at least in two cases, some of the most-loved sports cars around.

The other is the Ford Mustang, which rides on a platform closely related to one older than you might think.

Back to the Z for a moment, because the platform it rides on comes from so far back that I was just getting into primary school when it debuted. The 2002 Nissan 350Z was released when I was in grade 2, about a decade and a half ago, when I was only allowed behind the wheel of one if it was on Need for Speed: Underground 2.

Nissan recently celebrated 35 years of its Infiniti sub-brand, which kicked off with the G35 Coupe – a sibling car to the V35 Nissan Skyline – and gave the Front Midship (FM) Platform its flowers.

The aim was to get a V6 nestled in just behind the front axle, which resulted in a 52:48 front/rear weight distribution. Slightly more weight over the front was a deliberate choice, according to the engineers.

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The FM platform would go on to carry the Z33 350Z to cultural relevance in the aforementioned Underground 2 and Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift, before the Z34 370Z came along with a heavily updated version of the platform in 2009 and hung around for 12 years. The FM was just about old enough to vote in Australia when the 370Z was discontinued.

The RZ34 is already coming up on four years old, and its platform is 20 years older than that.

Even though its chassis feels heavy for something carrying a two-door coupe, it’s not alone in the world of heavy hybrid and electric ‘sports cars’, but it retains a level of engagement and trust in the driver that doesn’t rely on tricks and electronics.

If Nissan built another platform for the Z, not only would it have possibly sent the company bankrupt, it might have lost some of its magic.

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Nissan’s FM platform is not alone in this. In fact, even though Ford probably could afford to create a new Mustang platform, you could argue the platform it rides on is even older than the Z’s. Depends who you ask.

While Ford says the S550 Mustang is built on a ‘ground-up’ platform developed just for the Mustang in 2015, it’s to some extent based on the existing D2C platform that the Mustang rode on since 2004, itself an evolution of the DEW98 platform used from the late 1990s.

While the Mustang’s platform is now different in a few key areas, including the addition of independent rear suspension for the S550 generation onwards, it’s still related to that of the early 2000s.

And it’s still quite capable and really, really fun, just like the Nissan Z.

I point all of this out because I’m a little worried about what happens to the other, even more affordable sports cars when it’s time for their next generations. Will the Mazda MX-5 or Toyota GR86 (and Subaru BRZ) hold onto their platforms until it’s no longer possible to release a car on them?

We’re going to be waiting until after 2030 for a new Nissan Z according to Nissan Americas’ Senior Vice President Chief Product & Planning Officer Ponz Pandikuthira, though given he says the next GT-R will ride on a new platform the FM Platform might also be outta here.

A new Ford Mustang won’t be around until a similar time, though Ford CEO Jim Farley has notably said the V8 would stick around “as long as God and the politicians let us”. The platform might need some more work by then if the brand intends to electrify the pony car, though it won’t go full-EV if Ford can avoid it.

If you’re anything like me, you’d probably be okay with the next generations of each of these cars riding on a very similar platform to their predecessors.

2026 Mazda MX-5

Of course evolution needs to take place, otherwise the Mustang would still have a solid rear axle and the likes of ANCAP would have thoughts about that.

The current Mazda MX-5 and Toyota GR86 are two properly affordable sports cars, and if keeping them within reach of most people means a new generation on the same highly acclaimed platforms as before, I’d be all for it.

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