Allegedly, manufacturing of the brand new Nissan Z kicked off within the spring of 2022 and has continued ever since. Allegedly. You’d suppose if the brand new Z was an precise automobile that truly existed, you’ll see them extra regularly than you do, which I am betting is mainly by no means. Is it a prank? A charade? Properly, no matter it’s, Nissan is not dropping its act — a minimum of not but. Based on the Japanese automaker’s newest report, greater than 5,000 U.S. People purchased a brand new Nissan Z in 2025.
Sure, for those who consider Nissan’s numbers, it bought 5,487 Zs right here final 12 months. In comparison with the 479,288 RAV4s that Toyota bought in 2025, that is mainly a rounding error, however nonetheless. That is sufficient Zs to place 100 in every state with a couple of left over for Washington, D.C. It is also much more than the 3,164 Zs that Nissan claims it bought in 2024, which works out to a 73.4% improve. That is actually not dangerous in any respect. If a genie supplied you the flexibility to do 73.4% higher at one thing subsequent 12 months, I wager you’d take that deal, too.
It additionally seems fairly good when you think about that Toyota solely bought 2,953 Supras in 2025. Assuming I can nonetheless do math appropriately, Nissan’s Z gross sales had been 85.8% larger than the Supra’s, which is wild, even earlier than you get into the half the place you are fortunate for those who’ve seen a single new Z on the highway that wasn’t a press automobile.
It is not all excellent news
That mentioned, it wasn’t all excellent news for the alleged new Z. Whereas year-over-year gross sales had been up considerably, they really tanked in This autumn. Nissan solely managed to promote 665 Zs in This autumn, down 32.8% from This autumn 2024, when Nissan bought 989 of them. In order that’s in all probability not an excellent signal. Besides it will get worse, as a result of Nissan’s Z gross sales had an extremely sturdy begin final 12 months after which dropped each quarter after that, even when quarter-over-quarter gross sales nonetheless seemed good for essentially the most half.
On the finish of Q1, Nissan reported it bought 2,154 Zs, an enormous 221.0% soar over the 671 Zs it bought in Q1 2024. Then, in Q2, Nissan bought 1,635 Zs right here, which was nonetheless much more than the 786 it bought the earlier 12 months but additionally considerably lower than it managed to maneuver in Q1, in addition to a reversal of the earlier 12 months’s pattern that confirmed Z gross sales bettering from Q1 to Q2. Nissan then bought 1,033 Zs in Q3, up 43.9% from the 718 it bought within the earlier Q3, although whole gross sales had been as soon as once more decrease than they had been within the earlier quarter. This autumn’s 665 gross sales solely continued the pattern.
However why, although?
Sadly for us, we will not know precisely what brought on gross sales to drop each quarter, nevertheless it certain does seem like politics performed an enormous half in what occurred. This autumn 2024 gross sales ticked up after which exploded in Q1 2025, suggesting a bunch of individuals with cash determined to reward themselves with new sports activities automobiles, whereas some folks in all probability needed to purchase earlier than Trump slapped tariff taxes on just about all the pieces, no matter how they voted. That first tariff announcement got here initially of Q2, which typically traces up with the beginning of the gross sales slide for the brand new Nissan Z. Immediately, shopping for a brand new sports activities automobile in all probability grew to become a a lot decrease precedence, particularly one which’s in-built Japan.
The actual query for this 12 months is whether or not Z gross sales will settle again at about 2024 ranges or if 2025’s quarterly gross sales drops will proceed. In the event that they do, it is exhausting to see how Nissan continues to supply the brand new Z within the U.S. Particularly since Nissan’s newest CEO is an alleged automobile man who mentioned he desires to construct a brand new Silvia and is probably going answerable for the Nismo Z lastly getting a handbook transmission. These are all good issues, and it could be a disgrace to see gross sales slide to the purpose Nissan can not justify promoting it right here in any respect.