ZilviaBot

05-07-2009 01:58 PM

Filed under: Convertibles, Coupes, Nissan, Rumormill



AutoExpress - the automotive equivalent of the Weekly World News - is reporting through its usual unnamed sources that Nissan plans (again) to revive the 200SX/240SX with an all-new, rear-wheel drive model aimed at the Mazda MX-5. Styled through a combination of the Urge concept that debuted at the Detroit Auto Show in 2007 and the 370Z, the new model will supposedly be powered by a 1.6-liter four, propelling the coupe/roadster to 60 mph in around 6.5 seconds. The only problem: it's been dead for over two years.

According to our own sources at Nissan - both in the U.S. and Japan - the Urge concept was canned after the automaker decided the project was too niche to be released. When we spoke with then-head of Nissan Global communications, Simon Sproule, at last year's LA Auto Show, he told us that the coupe was on indefinite hiatus and the automaker couldn't make a business case for the new model in the near- or long-term. Nissan's design guru, Shiro Nakamura told us essentially the same thing during a meeting in Pebble Beach last August, and as early as December - at the launch of the new 370Z - Nissan's U.S. design chief made it clear that the Urge was dead.

AE contends that "the car has been held back because of the global financial slump," but the Urge's demise took place well before that. So unless AE has something more substantive than a rendering and a fictional on-sale date (2011), we're deeming this rampant speculation until we hear something official from Nissan.


Gallery: Nissan URGE Concept



[Source: AutoExpress]Rumormill: Nissan's MX-5 competitor is coming, only it's not originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 07 May 2009 14:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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ryguy

So basically this thread is totally pointless.

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jskateborders

yea... I don't get it. "Nissan was thinking about making something but they aren't."
Bot fail.

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