I want to share what the good car company in Yokohama just shared with the world. This is the seventh generation Nissan Fairlady Z, a car that shouldn't exist in today’s automotive market.

Chief engineer Hiroshi Tamura and the chief designer, Miami-born Alfonso Albaisa, have given the world a new (the last?) Fairlady Z. The 2-door Japanese sports car market should have died when the domestic bubble economy burst in 1991. So many marques disappeared after 1991. Some came back (GT-86, Supra). And some special cars, like the Honda S2000 attempted to bring the segment back. A lot of credit needs to be given to the rear-wheel drive Japanese sports cars that never left, the Mazda MX-5 and the Nissan Fairlady Z.

In the 4-door market, Subaru and Mitsubishi emerged as all-wheel drive performance leaders after 1992. Honda and Acura dominated the front-wheel drive 2-door and 4-door market after the bubble as well. As the 2-door Japanese sports car market collapsed, we also saw the fall of the Japanese 2-door luxury sports coupe. The Toyota Soarer, Nissan Sylvia and Nissan Leopard are gone. The European luxury sports coupes would follow 30 years later. Only now is Mercedes killing most of its flagship luxury sports coupes - the cars that really make Mercedes what it is (or was).

The market for 2-door sports cars in Japan faded as soon as the bubble burst. But we Americans -we consumers- who helped make 5 of the 6 major Japanese carmakers successful, kept the MX-5 and Z (and now the Supra and GT-86) alive. America also got the latest Nissan Skyline, another car that shouldn’t exist. Our passion for a lost, 20-year era of automotive history has established some options for those with decent disposable income to get into the game.

In the last two decades, annoying, vaping young men in cities like Los Angeles and Queens who bought Infiniti G35 and G37 coupes kept this segment alive. I want to believe that they knew the history of these cars, far before The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift. These are the sport and luxury/sport coupes that salarymen bought when they moved up the company ladder. Many might have been girl-shy, but they could get a car called the Fairlady (ha!).

I will refer readers to the awesome crew at Japanese Nostalgic Car for a detailed analysis of the latest Z’s design. Oh, and Jason Torchinsky of Jalopnik just published an even better design review! I will leave my casual observations here.

I think Nissan has hit a home run. These design looks close to production-ready. It’s not too retro and it looks mildly post-modern. And while it has cutting edge rear LEDs, they are not too wild to manufacture. The interior has climate control knobs and door release handles out of the Nissan parts bin (those door handles are the same as those found in the discontinued Nissan Cube and Skyline Crossover). This tells me that this is very close to being production-ready, and the team was okay with dipping into the parts bin to save on costs. The polyester (alcantara) suede covering the center gauges is keeping with trends from last decade, and yet it works. After all, who is going to buy one of these aside from older drivers who want a little Japanese bubble era (Showa Era?) nostalgia and the younger drivers who have kept the Z alive?

Back to those rear taillights, I love how the insides of those clusters resemble the bubble-era twin-turbo 300ZX (Z32). That’s a clear call to those who love the Z to come back (or stay loyal, if they already own a current generation 350Z or 370Z. The rectangular grille in the front is also a nod to history. The Z has not had fancy shaped grilles. It has kept it simple and rectangular for decades. It looks really good and clean.

Nissan is a corporation in trouble. They have bled cash, jobs, car models and market share. They didn’t have to do this. They need to sell crossovers and SUVs in North America, Europe, South America and Australia in order to fund fun projects like this. They failed to deliver the exciting, super cute, electric IDX coupe, which they unveiled as a concept in 2013. This new Z makes amends for that. It gives enthusiasts a new platform that can be used for cruising, commuting, or at the track, much like the Ford Mustang. It has the potential to be an affordable alternative to a Jaguar coupe, which was the styling intent of the original Z.

I’m excited about this car. It shouldn’t exist. Assuming this goes into production, it will be a sweet bonus - the continuation of the Z, which anchored Japanese sports coupes in North America for over 20 years.