Nissan Silvia CSP311 concept gains momentum as EV

Back in September, Nissan released some illustrations of an electric Silvia revival. Penned by Matthew Weaver, a vice president at Nissan’s European design studio, it pays homage to the original Silvia, the 1965 CSP311. At the time, it was just an assignment where Weaver was asked to come up with an electric car based on something from Nissan’s past. Now, the electric Silvia is apparently being seriously considered.

According to Japan’s Best Car magazine, the Silvia received a lot of positive attention.  Though it existed only as a series of drawings, it left enough of an impression that it triggered a movement within Nissan to revive the Silvia as an EV. Best Car’s post merely says that a pure EV Silvia revival is “gaining momentum” and that Nissan’s goal is to “show that its history will continue even in the EV era by reviving its historical masterpiece in the modern age”. Best Car believes that such a car will debut in 2025.

If we read between the lines it indicates that back in September, when Weaver published his drawings, the Silvia was merely a one-off “what if” scenario. It was never meant to move beyond the illustrations. However, now it seems that the images have sparked someone to actually consider this as a, at the very least, something worth studying.

Perhaps numbers will be crunched, management pitched. As you know, these are just the first steps on journey of thousands before it even reaches the concept stage. And we know how many concepts actually make it to production.

Nissan was a leader in electric cars with models like the Leaf, but kind of stagnated and squandered its lead. Its upcoming Ariya is late to the game behind many other companies now offering an EV crossover. A sporty halo car like the Silvia would be a product no one else is offering yet, a stylish EV coupe. And capitalizing on Nissan’s heritage, it would be just the right car to make a strong statement and perhaps recapture the lead. They could even bring back the IDx or subsequent Silvia generations on the same platform. We dig the idea, as we explained back in September. But, we won’t hold our breaths just yet.

Images courtesy of Nissan/Matthew Weaver.

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8 Responses to Nissan Silvia CSP311 concept gains momentum as EV

  1. BlitzPig says:

    Give it a nice 2 liter twin cam 4 and I’m a buyer. Electric power, not so much.

  2. dankan says:

    I think it’d be a great move, and I’m all for this thing being electric. Lean hard into their Formula E program with a Nismo version in a fancy paint job that looks like the race car and you get something even more interesting.

    I really hope they do this, it’d be something I am really interested in buying, even though I am not a Nissan fan by a long way.

  3. Mark F Newton-John says:

    No. Still looks like a 70’s Japanese car. EV or not, if it looks 40 years old, it’s not going to sell.

    • dankan says:

      I dunno about that. If the Hyundai Ioniq 5 does as well as it looks like it will, retro-futurism may be a vibe worth doing.

  4. Taylor C. says:

    At first glance it unfortunately looked like a current Camaro. The IDx revival, in my opinion was a better attempt. However, it’s good that Nissan is trying here…

  5. pete240z says:

    Nissan, stop.

    Get back to improving Altima mirrors and seat material. You failed at a Silvia/510 cars a few years ago.

  6. Negishi no Keibajo says:

    Great idea. Great look. If they could execute it as simple as possible with a robust offerings of modifications to please a wider audience, I think it can be successful. Offer it with a really basic platform though. No “value added” crap like screens & scrolling menu’s to activate something. Dials & buttons. Buyers & dealers can tweak them.

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