Safari-fied Nissan Z “Warrior” trademarked

If trademarks are anything to go by, and we must stress that they’re often not, Nissan is looking at a safari-fied variant of the Z. But if it’s true, it would be a pretty entertaining car that has some historic precedent. If Porsche can build a 911 Dakar, Nissan can build a Safari Z.

You know the “safari” formula by now: take a normal non-SUV car, raise the ride height, put some beefy tires on it and make it resemble something that  could compete in a rally raid or charge through a post-apocalyptic wasteland. It’s a (too) popular trend right now, and major manufacturers have gotten in on the act officially, with the Porsche 911 Dakar and Lamborghini Huracán Sterrato. Ford is also rumored to be developing a Mustang Raptor. Nissan is calling their version, according to an Australian trademark, the Z Warrior.

The Warrior sub-brand has already been used on a series of beefed-up Nissan Navara pickups and Patrol (Armada in the US) SUVs. As reported by CarSales, recently Nissan trademarked nearly a dozen model names with Warrior appended to them, including the “Z Warrior”. Typically Warrior vehicles have suspension upgrades, but powertrains aren’t touched. That’s probably okay, as the Z’s twin-turbo 400 horsepower is probably plenty for an off-road sports car.

Naturally, such a creation would have to pay tribute to the Datsun 240Z, which won the actual Safari Rally in 1971. Nissan has been toying with the idea for almost a decade, dating back to the Nissan Gripz concept of 2015 and a Safari tribute Juke as recently as 2022. We’re not going to hold our breaths for this, as Nissan is currently having trouble selling enough versions of the regular Z (the company says this is due to a semiconductor shortage, but we’re not so sure that’s still a valid excuse in late 2024). In any case, it’s a fun though experiment, and that’s likely all it will be.