Jay Leno is in Japan. What comes of this trip should be interesting, but for now, watch as he tours the Nissan DNA Garage.
UPDATE: Leno goes to Toyota and drives the Lexus LFA Spyder as well!
Nissan design chief Shiro Nakamura give Leno a tour of the facility, formerly known as simply the Zama warehouse, and Leno takes a spin in a 240ZG. It is notable that the warehouse now has stanchions and placards next the cars. We’ve heard rumors that the warehouse will soon be open to the public, and the presence of those items seems to confirm it.
In Leno’s own version on Jay Leno’s Garage, he gets a tour of one of Nissan’s design studios, and elicits some news from Nakamura. 2014 will be the 80th anniversary for Nissan, and they are planning some big to celebrate the company’s heritage. A sketch or two on the wall shows that shape much closer to the S30 than the Z34 seems to be in the works. Leno even makes a pitch for fender mirrors!
UPDATE: Bonus video — Leno drives the LFA Spyder too!
if you mute jay leno, one could jerk-off to the shots of that warehouse
MECCA!
They need to get back to their roots, like Toyota did with the ft86. They need to make a lighter, smaller displacement I6, and maybe scale the Z down a bit too I think. IDK, if they made a light simple Z for around $25K, I think they could be successful.
Nice to see Jay giving the s30/240z/fairlady some love. The 2nd vid gets a bit awkward when he sits down with the Junior designer. If that’s it for Nissan’s staff assigned to that project, time to retool and get some more senior hotshots in there.
Seniority does not necessarily mean they are better at design. Most of the freshest ideas come from junior designers. For example, most of the really questionable early 2000’s Chevrolet designs came from the same senior designer. The Hummer concept that looked like the Halo Warthog on the other hand, came from three junior designers fresh out of Transportation design school.
@ApeBacon – I couldn’t agree more. You make great points. However, in this particular case, those particular sketches in that particular vid seemed a bit wonky…both perspective and proportion. There are many many young qualified hotshots out there…IMHO I just don’t see evidence of that caliber on that concept board.
I don’t think you can expect much from that second part where he sits down with the young designer, he’s basically just throwing in quick additions to the sketch as jay says them… Doesnt seem like a genuine way to judge their ability as a designer..
I can hardly believe that the “Leno’s Garage” video is anything more than a staged performance to showcase the Nissan design environment, their technologies, and various projects. That is a presentation, not a peek into the working environment. Jay doesn’t do too well describing the S30 either. Entertaining, but little ‘substance’.
I’ve always loved this rendering done by a student, hopefully Nissan takes it into consideration..
http://www.3dluvr.com/grid/temp/D_240z_Conc/D_240Z_conc_99__.jpg
I couldn’t agree more, i would be at a dealership with a down payment in hand in a heart beat if they made that version that Justin pointed out ^ none of the crappy vertical lights that nissans putting out now. stick to the basics if not bring the Silvia to the states to compete with the fr-s