Report: Nissan yet again considering return of 240SX

Report: Nissan yet again considering return of 240SX
By Mark Kleis - Posted December 21st 2009

With global concern over the unstable oil prices, automakers are again looking to package “fun” in smaller, more gas-efficient ways – enter the return of the upcoming Nissan 240SX. Like Toyota and Subaru’s partnership-created FT-86 sports car and Honda’s upcoming CR-Z sporty hybrid, Nissan is reportedly yet again working on the return of its small 240SX despite the project being canceled earlier this year.

Nissan canceled the last 240SX back in 2002, and has relied on the 350Z and 370Z for its sporty offering since then. Now Nissan is looking to recreate the next 240SX on a shortened version of its FR-L platform, which underpins the 370Z and Infiniti G sedan. The news of the FR-L platform means that the next SX will feature rear-wheel-drive like its slightly larger platform mates, and throws out the three-year old rumor that it may be a mid-engined car like the Urge concept. There is even talk of a factory-supplied flamboyant body kit among the options.
According to InsideLine, power is expected to arrive in the form of a 1.8-liter inline-4, and with the help of its turbocharger will output somewhere in the realm of 200 horsepower. Considering the high potential for those looking to use Nissan’s 240SX as a true entry-level car as it is intended, Nissan will likely offer a less potent naturally aspirated engine as well for those on a tighter budget.
Although there is currently no confirmation on any high-performance versions of the 240SX in the works, given its pedigree and competition it is likely that some 300+ hp variants will work their way into the lineup within a year or two of initial release which is believed to be between 2011 and 2012. Expect the 240SX to be in the same segment as the FT-86 and Mazda MX-5 in terms of pricing.
Spy shots have not yet been secured, but it is believed that the next 240SX will be based loosely on the 2005 Nissan Foria concept car shown in the preview.
37 COMMENTS
1. idrinorbarsaku220 days ago
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  I hope it doesn’t look like that!
  
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2. Fx NauGhtY220 days ago
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  yea true that i hope it looks like the older skyliner
  
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3. AFSOCSARGE220 days ago
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  This would be a Smart Move ! The ‘Tuner/Drifter Market is hungry for a Light Weight Rear Wheel Drive Car, they will buy this as soon as it hits the market. All the Honda’s are FWD and can’t Drift so with Nissan’s 240 they will have their Cake and Eat it too !
  
  -Sarge
  
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4. 0-60220 days ago
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  It looks kinda like an older Saab to me.
  
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5. RaineMan220 days ago
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  Please? Please please please please please!
  
  The tuner market is just itching for a small RWD coupe with about 200hp. All these FWD sport-compacts are crap.
  
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6. AFSOCSARGE220 days ago
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  Here is a better picture:
  http://www.leftlanenews.com/cars/image_popup/newgallery.php?postid=7845&defimage=http%3A%2F%2Fphotos.leftlanenews.com%2Fphotos%2Fimageresizeronfly%2FphpThumb.php%3Fsrc%3D%2Fphotos%2Fcontent%2Fmay2008%2F240sx-1.jpg
  
  -Sarge
  
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7. ICEMAN220 days ago
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  WOW, just when you think Nissan is the only Japanese co that’s not f–king up their designs………
  
  WTF is that?
  
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8. 0-60220 days ago
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  @Sarge
  Those two cars don’t look anything alike.
  They are probably two different cars.
  The question is which one will they pick for the design?
  
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9. Need4SSpeed220 days ago
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  Make up your god damn mind Nissan!!!
  
  I don’t know what’s up in the picture but the concept they had about a year ago seemed pretty cool
  
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10. F50220 days ago
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  Since the S15 design doesn’t look that dated much, why not just evolve that styling with a brand new interior. It would be a great looker, the rear end could do some work and the front can be tweaked a bit. I think they have to be careful so that the 240SX doesn’t reach the 370Z’s level, having 300+ HP might cause that….. maybe 280HP would be good…. or maybe bump the 370Z’s Horsepower to 350.(maybe a turbo version with 400HP?)
  
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11. johnnycanuck220 days ago
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  That’s a nice car in the picture. So when exactly did they start making a two door Versa?
  
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12. RaineMan220 days ago
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  Personally I think they could get away with using a slightly modified version of the 2.5L 4-banger from the Sentra SE-R.
  
  Nice conservative 200hp to keep insurance rates low, plenty of room for tuners to get in there and play, offer a lot of Nismo parts for it. Could be quite the little cash-cow.
  
  Call it the 250Z… done deal.
  
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13. RICERisNICER220 days ago
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  I think what we can all take from this is that we’re very sad the Nissan Foria was never put into production.
  
  But I’m stoked about the car, hopefully we’ll see some competition between the FT 86 and get 2 great RWD (Thank God) low-mid powered fun little coupes. Very exciting, thank you Nissan and don’t effing cancel it again!
  
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14. CiNO220 days ago
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  Nissan is smart enough to make a great design. The pic is just what LLN think they will use for the S16 project design, but we all dun really know what will make into production.
  BTW So where exactly is the RX-7 successor?
  
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15. beatusmongous220 days ago
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  @RaineMan, what about 250SX?
  
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16. RaineMan220 days ago
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  @beatus: I figure if they are going to sell it as the 370′s little brother, why not call it what it is and use the “Z” moniker?
  
  Otherwise we are going to see some kind of ricer garbage like the “250SX SE-R Spec V” for the top trim level.
  
  If it’s the 250Z it comes in either manual or auto… and we are done.
  
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17. Madcapp220 days ago
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  Jesus H Christ, how hard does it have to be to get a car company to do the painfully obvious, and build something like this.
  
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18. Blakkarr220 days ago
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  I would hope Sarge’s pic is what the new 240SX would look like, or something near it. The top picture seems more likely owing that it is a photo, however.
  
  What I would curious to see is if NISSAN kills off the SENTRA for this car and makes a sedan version. In which case, a more conservative style would be expected and warranted to keep from scaring off small car buyers who maybe are not looking for flash just carry.
  
  After all, the VERSA is just about as big as the SENTRA.
  
  That aside, NISSAN probably really needs to build this car if for no other reason that the 370Z is a bit too pointed and is getting a bit pricey (Starting at about $30K) for early fans of the car and steps away from buyers who who otherwise like to have a back seat with their speed wagon. Which is actually a rather large number of people.
  
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19. RaineMan220 days ago
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  Last month I saw 3 grown men climb into a 350Z and drive off. I didn’t think anything of it until about 15 minutes later when I remembered that the Z has no rear seats.
  
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20. Payton Byrd220 days ago
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  @RaineMan
  
  “The tuner market is just itching for a small RWD coupe with about 200hp.”
  
  And thus the reason the Genesis Coupe 2.0T was all over SEMA.
  
  I hope there’s a naturally aspirated, direct injected, variable valve timing 2.4L as the “Optional” engine, otherwise Nissan will have broken the rules. Oh, and don’t forget the DCT.
  
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21. Blakkarr220 days ago
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  Madcapp,
  
  Very hard.
  
  How many cool concepts that were apparently ready for production got killed at the 11th hour or were just “Engineering exercises”? Their are so many cars and trucks and whatnot that could have and should have been built. If they were the automotive landscape would look some much better and so much more desirable and a LOT of car makers would not be in trouble or as much trouble as they are now.
  
  But I think the appearance of dithering and hemming and hawing on NISSAN’s comes from the general openness and honesty of the Japanese autopress. Unfortunately, they may sometimes get too much information and don’t parse their words ahead of time or print and post the story before it’s done. Next week we may come back and find NISSAN kills the car for good or gives it a green light plus some prototypes getting a once over by technicians.
  
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22. PerformanceGuy220 days ago
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  I hope that they bring this car back and that it looks similar to the second pic. That car looked pretty hot. Just give it 250-285 hp, so that it sits just below the Z and I think that NIssan will have a hit on their hands.
  
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23. Blakkarr220 days ago
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  PerfomranceGuy,
  
  That won’t happen. Horsepower costs money. You buff the engine to that point and it costs money. You buff the frame the tranny to handle that power and it costs money. Also the car would suddenly be way too close to the 370Z even if separated by 50-80hp.
  
  If the SX is going to cost about $20K it is not going to be very powerful. 220hp tops and, to be honest, I don’t think NISSAN has a better than 200hp to throw at this car. and to keep dev costs down they aren’t going to make one. The SENTRA SE-R’s motor would do but that is only about 200hp.
  
  Now if MITSUBISHI would make a new AWD Eclipse…
  
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24. NRG220 days ago
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  I hope they bring it back. I had a ’98, the last yr for that car, and it was a lot of fun to drive. I think it needs to have more than 200 HP though. Maybe 225-250 HP.
  
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25. andy220 days ago
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  hmm, right when GM scraps the Sky (try to rid the Solstice from my mind)
  
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26. RaineMan220 days ago
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  200HP will be fine for a stock tuner car. Many of them won’t stay stock for long… intake, exhaust, reprogramming the computer, forced induction, etc… they will be putting down 250-300 to the wheels as soon as the gearheads get their hands on them. Just like the Genesis Coupe 2.0T… it may only be 210hp out of the box, but it doesn’t take much to turn that into 250 or 300.
  
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27. DenverGuy217220 days ago
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  I hope it looks like the concept drawings they showed earlier which was a looker rather than the hideous thing in this report
  
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28. Hyperion220 days ago
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  Well well well….. really Nissan? You think buyers are interested in a new 240SX? The 370Z with its high entry price and only two seats being your lowest price RWD sportscar might actually turn off some buyers? After Toyota, Subaru, Hyundai, Mazda and VW (and Chevy with the Camaro V6) are all readying small RWD sporty cars of their own after you dropped out due to “market conditions”? REALLY??
  
  I’ve been waiting for this since 2000. They need a 2+2 RWD in their lineup. And they will offer the turbo version with 240-280HP with 6-speed manual and LSD options to compete in this segment. For max $26k MSRP.
  
  I hope this isn’t just a blind rumor. What a frustrating car company. At least they’re going to build it, finally.
  
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29. jimmyblaze220 days ago
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  The market is ready for this I’d love to see the return of the 200 / 240 SX. I have fond memories of that sporty, stylish, agile, economical RWD car. Owned 2 of them. I hope it will be based loosely on the 2005 Nissan Foria very, very loosely.
  
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30. 71fiveanddime219 days ago
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  bring back the KA!!!! for christ’s sake if its going to be the 240sx it needs a 2.4L motor. if its going to have a 1.8L then it needs to be the 180sx like it was in japan. update the KA line and do big things. theres another product cycle left in those old “truck” engines.
  
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31. bmwmpower219 days ago
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  No there’s not 71fiveanddime. Stop with the stupid ricer-speak. Stop with the stupid ricer-acroymns “OMG KA KA KA” STHU. That engine is what? 20 years old? No way Nissan or any other car company is going to use a majorly outdated engine. Every manufacturer has good old engines, doesn’t mean they should put them in newer cars especially with new emissions standards. Nissan makes some good cars, but please don’t get too excited for this car which will likely run high 16s in the 1/4 mile. It’ll be a fun, depdendable “sporty” car. nothing more, nothign less
  
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32. bmwmpower219 days ago
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  Hyperion, absolutely none of your comment makes any sense. What are you trying to say? on one hand it seems you’re against this new Nissan but on the other it seems you want it. Confucious says
  
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33. tastyorange219 days ago
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  nice. cool color too. I only see one image.
  
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34. Need4SSpeed219 days ago
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  All Nissan needs to do is offer it with a turbo 4cyl in the 220-260hp range, and then offer a N/A 4cyl @ 200hp for the base.
  
  If they offer anything less, then the Hyundai Genesis Coupe V6 GT, 2.0T R-spec, Toyota FT-86 & the Subie variant will be the only ones I’ll be test driving when I look for my next car in a few years…
  
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35. Sanandraes2004219 days ago
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  American might buy this car if they get some extra incentives like maybe a holiday in Japan, for example.
  
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36. Hyperion219 days ago
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  bmwpower,
  
  It’s exasperation I was voicing over Nissan’s decision making. I *have* been wanting them to produce this car for ten years and two times so far they have been on the verge of doing a new 2+2 Silvia. The 370Z has only two seats and a hatch trunk– not my thing. Few new cars are near 3000lbs and RWD and also offer back seats.
  
  I absolutely want them to make this car the *correct* way. A lot of people do. It’s just frustrating when every other manufacturer gets into the game with their small RWD car and the one manufacturer that has done a version in the past that is exactly your own personal preference decides not to. And they do this several times. It’s like dangling a carrot in front of a rabbit and yanking it away.
  
  I am very annoyed with Nissan. I am very hopeful about the future of the 240SX/Silvia.
  
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37. howsmydriving219 days ago
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  Make it so.
  
  Reply
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