Gird your loins, Nissan fans. The current, 13th-generation Skyline has nearly reached the end of its life cycle, and an unverified rumor claims its successor will land in 2025 as an electric crossover. The same report suggests the model could join the Infiniti range in the United States.
Without citing sources, Japanese magazine Best Car wrote that Nissan initially planned to replace the Skyline (which is sold as the Infiniti Q50 in the United States) with another sedan. Development work started, but the project veered toward crossover territory and the sedan body style has reportedly been axed. Instead, the next-generation Skyline will share some of its underpinnings with the Ariya (pictured).
Power will allegedly come from an evolution of the e-4ORCE drivetrain offered in the Ariya. It will consist of at least two electric motors for through-the-road all-wheel-drive, and it could deliver over 450 horsepower. That’s more than the Ariya currently offers, and it falls in line with the Skyline nameplate’s sporty positioning. Details such as driving range, battery size, and charging times haven’t been published.
Luckily, nothing suggests the decision to crossover-ize the Skyline will affect the GT-R. While the nameplate first appeared on an evolution of the third-generation Skyline released in 1968, it has been marketed as a standalone model since the current-generation car landed for 2009.
We’re taking this report with a grain of salt; Best Car admits it has received “mixed information” about the Skyline’s successor, and Nissan hasn’t commented on what the future holds for the nameplate. We’re not discounting the possibility that a Skyline-branded crossover will be sold alongside a Skyline-branded sedan (Toyota is taking a similar path with the Century). If the report is accurate, we’ll learn more soon.
In a way, we’ve been here before. Unveiled in 2015, the Gripz concept seemingly previewed a Z-inspired crossover with a futuristic-looking design that borrowed a handful of styling cues from the 240Z. It ruffled more than a few feathers and was not approved for production.
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Source: www.autoblog.com