Nissan is poised to take on the reborn Mazda RX-7 and VW Scirocco with a follow-up to its 200SX coupé, insiders say.
The new two-door, which would effectively replace the 200SX that was axed in 2002, would slot beneath the 370Z to give Nissan a more fuel-efficient and affordable fastback to counter the Scirocco and Renault’s three-door Mégane.
The new Nissan would be rear-wheel drive, as before, but the challenge of finding a suitable platform on which to build it is proving difficult.
A cut-down 370Z chassis has been considered but is likely to prove too heavy. The open-top, rear-drive sports car that Nissan was also exploring at one time — and which could also have provided the hardware — has been aborted.
Nissan has also decided to utilise the next generation of its Tiida hatchback — sold in Ireland and Russia, but nowhere else in Europe — to bolster its family car line-up alongside the Qashqai.
The Qashqai crossover has been judged a success, but the company still wants a conventional hatch — in effect, a replacement for the Almera — to take on the VW Golf and Ford Focus across Europe.
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It's not front wheel drive -
Re: Nissan 'to relaunch 200SX'
Lack of RWD platform? Erm... 370Z? Skyline? Yes, I know the Skyline is AWD, but it's still longitudinally-engined, engine-behind-the-front-axle, propshaft-down-the-middle...
They'd probably be better off just putting a four-cylinder engine in the Z, tbh.
Re: Nissan 'to relaunch 200SX'