The Japan's Sports Cars Remain Have Appeal

The sports car does have its own artistic value in the eyes of their fans. This is understandable because, in addition to having a big engine power, the sensation of high speeds driving also adds value to the exotic design.

The Mazda RX 7 by Veilside reminds us to the one whose driven by Han Lue (played by Sung Kang) in the famous 'Fast & Furious 6' movie. (Picture from: https://bit.ly/3edSwXz)

No wonder sports car for the Japanese car manufacturer has its own market value. Where the Japanese manufacturers also have to contend with the European automotive principal to make a great original sports car like the Mazda RX-7 and Nissan GTR-R36.

1. MAZDA RX-7

Mazda will revive the RX-7. Legendary rotary-engined sports sedan will be back again in 2017. The RX-8 never even came close to living up to its predecessor, as it wasn’t really a pure sports car. That the news presented by the Mazda’s sports car chief Nobuhiro Yamamoto. "Resurrection RX-7 will coincide with the 50th anniversary of the launch of the first car that Mazda rotary engine (Wankel)," he said.

Mazda RX-7. (Picture from: http://www.autoblog.com/)

Mazda has a new rotary engine since 2007, known as the 16X, but they haven’t yet put it into a production car. The 13B Renesis engine from the RX-8 is a completely different engine, and smaller as well, displacing 1.3 liters to the 16X’s 1.6 liters.

The Mazda RX-8 never even came close to living up to its predecessor. (Picture from: http://copas-ae.blogspot.com/)

Yamamoto says the new engine is good for 300 horsepower in naturally-aspirated form, but he wouldn’t say whether a version with forced induction will make it under the hood. What he did say is that the car is likely to appear only in the naturally-aspirated at first and that a turbo version would come later if at all. Hybrid options were brought up, but Yamamoto dismissed them outright, saying they had no place in the pure sports car.

The car will share a platform with the next-generation MX-5, although it will be bigger and heavier. But the car will still be very light, and Yamamoto suggested that it will similar in weight to the Scion FR-S. The construction will make extensive use of aluminum, but exotic materials like carbon fiber were deemed cost-prohibitive. Just the same, this RX-7 will not be cheap, maybe starts at the U.S. $130,000 (or Rp. 1.25 billion).

2. NISSAN GTR-R36

It is also taken by Nissan on the latest generation GT-R, R36 and estimated to be produced in 2018. Since its launch in Japan in mid-December 2007 and globally in 2009, the R35 has sold 5,914 units. But unfortunately, this year with the acquisition of sales fell as many as 583 units.

Speaking at the conclusion of the Nürburgring 24 Hours earlier this year, chief engineer of Nissan, Kazutoshi Mizuno said the current car will continue to evolve over the next five years, and that participation in this tough endurance race has helped verify the durability and reliability of its platform to ensure it’s capable of handling whatever upgrades Nissan has planned for the future. Note, Mizuno recently retired due to Nissan’s mandatory retirement age of 60, though the expert engineer is expected to continue to aid GT-R development in a consulting role.

The Nissan GTR-R35. (Picture from: http://nissentric.com/)

Mizuno’s official departure has led to a slight delay in the arrival of the R36, although development is already underway. Nissan engineers are reportedly keen to see the performance of the upcoming Acura NSX, which boasts a sophisticated hybrid system and is promised to lap the Nürburgring-Nordschleife faster than the R35.

Illustration of Nissan GTR-R36. (Picture from: http://otomotif.kompas.com/)

Nissan hasn’t ruled out a hybrid setup on the R36, as the automaker previewed a high-performance hybrid setup in the 2009 Infiniti Essence Concept. By combining a 3.7-liter V6 engine with two turbochargers, Nissan was able to boost the output of the engine to around 440bhp. It then combined this with a 160bhp electric motor and the end result was a powertrain producing close to 600bhp.

Nissan is expected to stick with the current 3.8-liter VR38DETT from the R35 in the new R36, but may combine this with an electric motor, like in the Essence. The power output would fall somewhere around the 600bhp mark whilst fuel economy could improve to around 25-30mpg (11-13kpl) combined.

The current R35 model will continue to evolve with yet another update planned for the 2014 model year. Some of the reported changes in this 2014 update include new bumpers and lights, as well as an upgraded powertrain.. *** [AUTOBLOG | TOP MOTORS |FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | EKA | OVI | PIKIRAN RAKYAT 09112012]

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