The Nissan 350Z was available as a drop-top, and so was the 370Z, but despite sharing the same platform as its predecessors, the current Nissan Z is only available as a coupe. That may change if Senior Vice President and Chief Planning Officer for Nissan North America, Ponz Pandikuthira, gets his way. Speaking on The Drivecast podcast, he said, “I would like nothing more than to see a convertible version of the Z out there.” Nissan has been talking about several exciting models, confirming a new Xterra SUV priced under $40,000 and hinting that the Silvia could be just one sports car in the pipeline, so it’s serious about attracting and satisfying enthusiasts, but these things are easier said than done.
Nissan Z Convertible Is Possible, But We Have to Wait
Sebastian Cenizo using ChatGPT and Ideogram
Pandikuthira explained that it won’t be as easy as just cutting the roof off the existing Nissan Z: “It takes a lot more work, obviously, because there’s things you have to do with stiffness and stuff like that, but we have had a convertible in the two previous generations of Zs, and they sold very well. There was a large part of the mix [that were convertibles].” When pressed on how realistic hopes for a Z drop-top are, the exec said that it all depends on how things go for Nissan in the near-term. “Let’s see how successful the company is in the next two years,” said Pandikuthira, which is when he previously confirmed we’ll get concrete info on the R36 GT-R. “If we meet those targets that we outlined and things are going really well, [a convertible] could be something we play with on a Z.”
Related: Nissan Is Cutting 11 Models as It Tries to Turn Itself Around
Nissan’s new leadership, headed by CEO Ivan Espinosa, is clearly ambitious and motivated, but let’s not forget that before Espinosa arrived, most conversations around Nissan were centered on its mere survival. It’s also worth remembering that while sports cars like the Silvia and Z Convertible would increase brand appeal, they would account for a relatively small percentage of overall sales, and that makes them risky from a financial standpoint. In 2025, Nissan sold just 5,487 Zs, and that was a 73.4 percent increase over the previous year. With a total of 926,153 vehicles sold in the U.S. over all model lines last year, that means the Z represented just 0.5 percent of overall sales.
Autoblog’s Take
Sebastian Cenizo using ChatGPT and Ideogram
As journalists, it’s our job to be pessimistic, and the facts that Nissan still needs to rely on partnerships with the likes of Honda and is struggling in its home market mean there’s no guarantee that the enthusiast vehicles like the Z convertible will be approved, even if fans of the brand clamor for them. It’s also our job to be realistic and fair, and the fact that the next GT-R won’t be electric shows an understanding of the market. Nissan has also satisfied the demands of those begging for a manual Z Nismo, proving the automaker has car junkies making decisions alongside the accountants. Of course, creating a drop-top Z with good structural rigidity is a tougher engineering task than refining a six-speed transmission for increased output, but with Espinosa and Pandikuthira in charge and streamlining everything at the company, we see no reason not to be cautiously optimistic about Nissan’s future and its lineup. If other new products are well received in the next couple of years, Nissan will have some breathing room to expand the lineup with something like a Z convertible and/or a Silvia.
Note: The images in this article are AI-generated renders and should not be considered official Nissan concepts.
