Nissan announces that its future cars will go electric

It’s not surprising for an automaker to confirm that more of its cars will go electric, although such news is no less intriguing to hear, especially when it involves sporty models. Nissan Europe boss for Marketing Jean-Pierre Diernaz has stated that nearly half of Nissan cars in the European market will go electric by 2022. This is not limited to Qashqai smart SUVs and the likes.

According to Diernaz, there’s no compatibility problem between sports cars and electrification technologies. Instead, sports cars can get a lot of benefits when they get electrified. Furthermore, platform and sub-segment migrations can be done much easier when sports cars pack a battery and motor instead of a complete internal combustion unit, which is more tricky to move.

There is a high probability that the next GT-R will come with a hybrid powertrain, and Nissan’s move to Formula E is making progress more smoothly.

These days, sports cars are more competitive and likeable than ever. The electrification job is a challenging one for engineers who have to work things out in the context of lightweight, speed and race. The fact that the electrification era happens in the centre of cities brings a lot of changes. New people will go on to become fans of electrified sports cars.

Despite all the electrification plans, it remains to be seen when the 370Z and GT-R, which are now over a decade old, will have new successors. Apparently, Nissan just want to enjoy the progress without confirming anything in terms of dates. It’s not strange since sports cars are part of who the Japanese company is, so one way or another such products have to be there.

It seems that it will take a long time for the successor of the 370Z to arrive, despite the imminent pressure from Toyota’s new Supra. Next year when Z commemorates its 50th anniversary, Nissan will likely come up with special editions of the outgoing model to mark the occasion.

According to Diernaz, his company’s big alliance with the likes of Renault, Mercedes and Mitsubishi helps further progress across the automaker’s range, although that doesn’t necessarily mean that the next-gen GT-R will receive AMG influence or something like that; no, it’s unlikely.