Nissan has made a bit of a cryptic announcement this morning, foreshadowing the unveiling of some new Nismo products.
Nismo is Nissan’s performance arm, much like AMG is to Mercedes-Benz and M is to BMW. As it currently stands, Nismo offers a couple slightly souped-up Nissan models including the 370Z, the LEAF, and the Juke (pictured). It appears, though, that Nissan is prepared to take Nismo from a side hobby into a heavy-hitting sports tuning entity.
On February 25, Nissan will be opening a new Nismo factory in Japan. This much larger factory will undoubtedly mean more significant offerings from the brand-owned tuner.
The Nissan press release indicated that the announcement will “reveal a new direction for Nismo’s core mission. This – to us – means Nismo will actually begin building some noteworthy offerings. Aside from its JUKE NISMO, the performance turner’s vehicles have been rather lackluster up to this point. A perfect example of which is the recently unveiled LEAF NISMO, which is mechanically identical to the standard LEAF but with some fancy body bits bolted on.
What could Nismo have planned for this global unveil? It’s not yet clear. The press release, however, has given one significant hint: “and for its millions of global gaming and virtual fans, NISMO products are about to become much more of a reality.” To us, this means vehicles formerly only found in the virtual gaming world will become a showroom reality.
What would we like to see? Nismo versions of the Altima Coupe for starters. The Altima is already one of the best family sedans on the market, and a muscled up coupe version would be extremely enjoyable.
Be sure to check back next week for a full breakdown of the new Nismo products. Until then, perhaps revisit some of your favorite racing games for a future Nismo product lineup.
