{"id":382309,"date":"2026-04-16T10:27:30","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T10:27:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/382309\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T10:27:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T10:27:30","slug":"nissan-silvia-comeback-hinted-by-ceo-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/382309\/","title":{"rendered":"Nissan Silvia comeback hinted by CEO, again"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Nissan Silvia remains as one of those long-gone models which enthusiasts yearn for the return of, even if it never appears any closer to happening.<\/p>\n

Built across six generations from 1965 to 2002, the Silvia became best known for being Nissan\u2019s affordable rear-drive sports car, and later versions are still highly valued as well as sought after in the tuning scene.<\/p>\n

Still, we\u2019re approaching 25 years since the last Silvia was made, though Nissan CEO Ivan Espinosa has continued to tease a revival \u2013 or at least hesitate to say it won\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, sports cars are the core of what we are as a company,\u201d Espinosa told US publication CarBuzz<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"NissanNissan Silvia S15<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we\u2019ve been there doing that for many generations, and there\u2019s multiple nameplates that we could leverage on\u2026 If you ask [one] part of my brain, I would love to do that [a new Silvia] very quickly.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the other part of my brain is telling me that we have to be prudent at the moment and move step by step. But for sure, we will see more sports cars coming into the portfolio.\u201d<\/p>\n

The executive added that a new Silvia, if it does come to fruition, would need to stand as its own model, rather than be a badge tacked onto an existing offering.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I want to make, let\u2019s say, an affordable car that is sporting instead of making a spicy Sentra. I will probably go and make a Silvia, a real affordable sports car. I\u2019m not saying I will probably go into a Silvia.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NissanNissan IDx Nismo concept<\/p>\n

Espinosa, who took the helm of Nissan towards the start of 2025, has long been an advocate for a new Silvia, even if the numbers haven\u2019t added up to put one into production yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cI get asked this question all the time and my answer is always the same: I would love to bring the Silvia back,\u201d Espinosa told Japanese outlet Kuruma News<\/a> last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if it\u2019s possible, because the concept is very difficult to realise in the modern era.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe S15 [the last generation of the S-chassis], especially with its high-output 2.0-litre turbo engine, is one of my favorite cars in Nissan\u2019s history. To me, it\u2019s one of the best lightweight sports cars we\u2019ve made.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very light, well-tuned chassis, and the combination of chassis and powertrain is a lot of fun. We\u2019re really excited to deliver a car like this.<\/p>\n

Iconic brand\u2019s CEO wants to revive \u2018the best sports car we\u2019ve ever made\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, considering today\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nissan last officially hinted at the Silvia\u2019s return in 2013 with the IDx concept, however this never led to a new sports car, while the Z and now defunct GT-R have served as its de facto performance models.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think (a car like the IDx) will serve many purposes. One, as I said earlier, is that it will be a car that helps express the Nissan brand,\u201d Espinosa said last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cSecondly, it has the potential to appeal to a younger demographic, as it is very important for an automaker to continue to attract younger customers to its brand.<\/p>\n

\"\"Australian Nissan Z Heritage Edition with other members of the Z family<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just about price, although price is certainly a factor, but there needs to be something compelling that makes young customers want to follow the brand.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is one of the reasons why I am very interested in this car name (Silvia) from a business perspective.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s nothing I can share at this point. It\u2019s just an idea in my head, but I hope one day it will come to fruition.\u201d<\/p>\n

This week the executive announced there is a new Skyline sedan on the way for Japan, as well as a new R36 GT-R in development.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Nissan Silvia remains as one of those long-gone models which enthusiasts yearn for the return of, even…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":382310,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[138,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-382309","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-newzealand","11":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=382309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/382310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=382309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=382309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=382309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}