Report: Nissan Silvia Set to Return As An Affordable Sports Car

Nissan’s global production boss revealed that the Nissan Silvia could be revived as an affordable JDM sportscar.

Besides Honda with the new Prelude hybrid, it seems like another storied JDM nameplate is on the horizon to make a comeback. This time around, it’s Nissan with the Silvia, where it will reportedly return as an affordable sportscar by the marque.

Nissan global product strategy boss Ivan Espinosa (right) revealed that the Silvia (left) might return as an affordable sportscar for the masses.

Speaking to Top Gear UK, Nissan Global Product Strategy and Product Planning Division VP Ivan Espinosa revealed that the automaker is contemplating reviving the Silvia, where it will be positioned below the soon-to-be-discontinued GT-R as the marque’s entry-level sportscar. With the nameplate still having a lot of fans globally, Espinosa envisioned the new Silvia to feature “good enough power at the right price that customers find attractive.”

“The chances are there, but in the end, it’s a business, so I need to find ways to make this sort of proposal interesting to the company. Sometimes cars like this do struggle a bit because the audience isn’t that big, but it can work if we find the right idea that can be run everywhere in the world,” Espinosa told Top Gear UK.

1999 Nissan Silvia S15

On the topic of its availability, Espinosa insists that the new Silvia won’t be a JDM exclusive or limited to certain market regions only, in a bid to make the car more accessible to the rest of the world. On top of that, the Nissan exec also admitted that it will be a great challenge for the automaker to revive the Silvia, but with the right formula and pricing, he’s very optimistic that this new sportscar may work in their favour.

“We cannot do these products regionally or as one-offs because it just doesn’t make sense. But there is a chance. It’ll be a challenge, but it’s my job to find ways to do stuff like this because I think it’ll be great for customers and the brand, and if I can put the right formula in place, we could make it work,” Espinosa added.

Toyota GR86 (left) & Honda Prelude Hybrid (right)

Given that Espinosa is planning to make the new Silvia an affordable sportscar for the masses, we can expect the new model to go against the likes of other ‘entry-level’ JDM sportscars like the Toyota GR86, Subaru BRZ, Mazda MX-5, and the upcoming Honda Prelude hybrid.

While the Nissan exec didn’t specify the powertrain nature of the new Silvia, there’s a chance that this new model might follow the semi-electrification route taken by the Prelude, given that the automaker has pledged to release 30 new electrified models (EVs and hybrids) by the end of the decade as part of its ‘The Arc’ business plan.

Besides the new Silvia, Espinosa also talked about the future of Nissan’s EV products, particularly pertaining to their drivability and the firm’s plans to make EVs equally fun to drive as their ICE precursors.

The Nissan Ariya Nismo uses the marque's proprietary e-4ORCE electric AWD system.

Promising a more engaging drive, the product boss revealed that Nissan’s e-4ORCE electric all-wheel drive (AWD) system was actually developed using inputs from the GT-R’s AWD system. A scaled-down example of this technology can be seen on the new Nissan Ariya Nismo, which generates a healthy total system output of 429 HP (320 kW) from its dual-motor AWD setup.

Nissan Hyper Force Concept

To wrap things up, Esponisa stated that should solid-state battery technology become more viable by the end of the decade, the e-4ORCE technology could spawn a new hyper-EV model from Nissan, potentially referring to the long-awaited, all-electric successor to the Nissan GT-R.