Nissan’s global CEO has doubled down on his previous comments about wanting to revive one of the Japanese brand’s most iconic models, the Silvia.
Sold in Australia as the Gazelle and 200SX, the Silvia sat below the ‘Z’ models and the Skyline GT-R in the Nissan lineup, gaining a cult following for its attainable turbocharged performance and rear-wheel drive chassis dynamics.
Mr Espinosa has been on the record in recent years about his desire to bring a small electric sports car to market, however, those comments were made when he was merely a senior executive at the Japanese automaker.
Following the departure of Makoto Uchida in April 2025, Mr Espinosa was appointed president and CEO of Nissan.
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“I would love to bring the Silvia back. I don’t know if it’s possible, because the concept is very difficult to realise in the modern era,” he told Japanese website, Karuma News.
“The S15, especially with its high-output 2.0-litre turbo engine, is one of my favorite cars in Nissan’s history. To me, it’s one of the best lightweight sports cars we’ve made.
“It’s a very light, well-tuned chassis, and the combination of chassis and powertrain is a lot of fun. I very much want to deliver a car like this,” he said, according to a translation of the interview.
“However, considering today’s 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.”
Nissan unveiled the IDx electric sports car concept back in 2014, a coupe that adopted retro styling that recalled the first-generation Silvia from 1965.
Over several years, Mr Espinosa has been honest about his desire to get the Silvia revived – and potentially positioned above the Z in the Nissan hierarchy – but said it may only happen with the help of a partner, suggesting it could be a future project under the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance.
Curiously, Renault’s performance arm, Alpine, has announced it will release a new A110 sports car for 2026, and the lightweight French coupe will feature an electric powertrain outputting approximately 400kW of power.
