Nissan revealed the Z Kaze concept on September 23 at ZCON, the Z Car Club Association’s annual convention in Phoenix, Arizona, where the company introduced the Z Heritage Edition a year earlier. Built on the current Nissan Z (RZ34) by a team of Nissan product planners and designers as an internal passion project, the concept’s defining feature is a custom-engineered T-top roof, a configuration first offered on the 280ZX in the early 1980s and carried through both generations of the 300ZX. The name comes from the Japanese word for wind.
The exterior is finished in Pacific Teal with a vented carbon fiber hood, fender flares, and a carbon fiber aero kit intended to reference 1990s import-tuner styling. The car rides on an original set of 18-inch NISMO LMGT2 forged multi-piece wheels, long out of production, which product planners sourced and had restored and rebuilt for the build; they measure 10 inches wide in front and 11 inches wide in back. Inside, custom white leather-appointed seats replace the usual black concept car trim, with carbon fiber accent trim and Bose Personal Plus headrest speakers fitted so occupants can hear music with the roof panels removed.
Mechanically, the twin-turbo 3.0-liter V6 carries GReddy components, including a SUPREME SP exhaust system, a front-mount air-to-air intercooler kit, and an Airinx air filter kit, while the suspension uses NISMO parts throughout. Nissan has not published performance figures for the concept, and the donor car is an automatic-transmission Z. The Z Kaze remains on display at ZCON through Saturday, September 26, before moving to the Japanese Classic Car Show at Marina Green Park in Long Beach on Saturday, October 3.
GalleryPhotos by Nissan
