Nissan Z Kaze Concept: The T-Top Z That Revives ’90s Tuner Culture

Nissan has built a one-off T-top version of the current Z, called the Z Kaze, as a tribute to open-roof Z cars and the 1990s tuner scene. It has teal paint, rare restored NISMO wheels and GReddy performance parts, but it is a concept and not for sale.

What Nissan revealed

Nissan revealed the Z Kaze concept on 23 September 2026 at ZCON, the annual convention of the Z Car Club Association, held in Phoenix, Arizona. Nissan describes it as a celebration of nostalgia, heritage and driving enjoyment across the Z’s seven generations. “Kaze” is Japanese for wind, and the roof is the point of the car.

The T-top

The headline feature is a custom-engineered T-top roof, a layout that hasn’t been offered on a Nissan Z for decades and that earlier open-roof Z cars like the 300ZX made popular. According to The Drive, the roof panels use the same securing and release design as the Z32 300ZX 2+2, and the centre bar is wider than the 300ZX’s to meet modern safety standards.

A 1990s tuner build

• Paint: Pacific Teal, chosen to evoke 1990s sports-car culture
• Wheels: a genuine set of out-of-production NISMO LMGT2 wheels that Nissan tracked down and restored. They are forged, multi-piece 18-inch wheels, 10 inches wide at the front and 11 inches wide at the rear.
• Performance parts: upgrades from tuning company GReddy, plus NISMO suspension, according to reports
• Bodywork: a vented carbon-fibre bonnet, wider arches and a carbon-fibre body kit, reports say
• Cabin: custom white leather seats, instead of the usual dark concept-car trim, so the interior stands out with the roof panels off

Nissan hasn’t released power, torque or performance figures for the concept.

A tribute, not a preview

Nissan’s Ponz Pandikuthira, senior vice president and chief product and planning officer for Nissan Americas, described the Z Kaze as a passion project that combines the company’s engineering with its heritage, honouring open-top sports cars and the tuning culture that helped put Nissan and NISMO on the map. A team of Nissan product planners and designers developed it, and Nissan says it is not available for purchase. The company hasn’t announced any production plans.

The bigger picture

The Drive notes that the concept follows a refresh of the 2027 Z that addressed criticism of its front end, and comes as Nissan executives say they are looking at rebuilding a sports car line-up and offering heritage parts in the US. None of that is a promise of a production T-top, but it shows Nissan is paying attention to its enthusiast fans.

For UAE enthusiasts

Nissan hasn’t announced anything for the Middle East. For the region’s Japanese-performance community, the Z Kaze is mostly a reminder of how much of Nissan’s identity sits in its sports-car history, and a sign of what a factory-built tribute can look like.

Sources: Nissan USA Newsroom, 23 September 2026; The Drive; carsales; NordiskBil.