- After announcing earlier this year that the Nissan Z NISMO would get a manual transmission, we now have our first look at what the gear lever looks like in the NISMO’s cabin.
- The Z NISMO MT will go on sale in Japan next summer, and we expect US sales to begin closer to the end of 2026.
- It will be unveiled at the Tokyo Auto Salon in January, along with a new NISMO-badged concept car.
Earlier this year, Nissan announced that it plans to equip the Z NISMO with a manual transmission. Although the standard Z has been offered with a stick shift since its introduction for the 2023 model year, the track-tuned NISMO variant came exclusively with a nine-speed automatic transmission. Now we get our first look at the manual gearshift in the NISMO’s cabin, with Nissan announcing that the NISMO MT will be fully unveiled at the 2026 Tokyo Auto Salon in January.
Not much information is available yet, but the transmission appears to be the same six-speed as in the standard Z, albeit likely with some changes to handle the extra 20 horsepower and 34 pound-feet of torque. Otherwise, the cabin looks essentially unchanged, and we don’t expect any major differences underneath. The NISMO should retain its 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged V-6 making 420 horsepower and 384 pound-feet, as well as its standard limited-slip differential, stiffer suspension and stronger brakes.
Nissan says the Z, known in Japan as the Fairlady Z, will receive a refresh that focuses on “improving aerodynamic performance” and will go on sale in Japan next summer. However, the only photo provided of the NISMO shows styling that mirrors the current car, so perhaps the visual changes are limited to the non-NISMO versions. We expect the manual transmission to arrive in the United States for the 2027 model year and likely go on sale in late 2026.
Along with the stick-shift Z NISMO, Nissan will unveil a new NISMO concept car at the Tokyo Auto Salon. There are no other details available at the moment, so this could be anything from a supercar to a NISMO-badged Kicks. Nissan also plans to show the X-Trail Rock Creek Multibed Wildplay, essentially a Rogue (which goes by the name X-Trail in Japan) modified for all-terrain use. More details about Nissan’s offering will emerge when the Tokyo Auto Salon opens on January 9.
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Caleb Miller started blogging about cars at the age of 13, and he realized his dream of writing for a car magazine after graduating from Carnegie Mellon University and joining the Car and driver team. He enjoys quirky and obscure cars, with a goal of one day owning something as bizarre as a Nissan S-Cargo, and is an avid motorsport fan.
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