Reports out of Japan are claiming the next Nissan Skyline sedan will return to its roots and offer a manual transmission, while a twin-turbo V6 engine will continue to spin the rear wheels.
Best Car reports the new Skyline won’t go electric in 2027 as once expected, and will instead carry on with the 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 heart available in the current model, but with the added twist of a three-pedal option.
The current ‘V37’ Skyline, in production since 2014, has only ever been offered with a seven-speed automatic behind its four-cylinder, twin-turbo V6 or hybrid V6 engines.
Though the Skyline stopped being the flagship performance model at the conclusion of the R34 generation and its Skyline GT-R hero model – with the GT-R becoming a standalone offering – the sedan was given the Nismo treatment in 2023.
The Skyline Nismo produced 309kW and 500Nm from the same engine which now powers the Z sports coupe, the latter of which develops 298kW/474Nm in standard guise and 313kW/521Nm in Nismo trim.
Nissan’s potential move to keep the Skyline alive with petrol power and make it a manual would allow it to share more costs with its luxury twin, the Infiniti Q50.
While the Q50 exited production last year, Automotive News recently reported US Nissan and Infiniti dealers were shown a teaser of the upcoming ‘Q50S’, which would run on the platform of the current Japanese-market Skyline.
The car which was shown off was also said to feature a twin-turbo 3.0-litre V6 engine, a six-speed manual transmission and rear-drive layout. Infiniti’s Q50 Red Sport previously was auto-only, and offered across both rear- and all-wheel drive.
The Automotive News report claimed the upcoming Infiniti Q50S would be pushed even further in Red Sport guise to make more than 336kW, or 450hp in US terms.
With a reported launch in 2017, Nissan and Infiniti face a number of financial battles to overcome in the meantime, as well as regulatory changes in different markets.
Discussion about this post