Reviving the Past with Modernity: The Nissan Fairlady Z

A Heritage Edition that Marries Tradition with Innovation

The Nissan Fairlady Z, a sports car with a rich history and enduring popularity, has been reimagined by designer Tomohira Kodama. The 370Z Heritage Edition is a modern take on the 280Z special decoration package design, a hit in North America back in 1977. The new model features contemporary-arranged racing stripes, adding a touch of modernity to the classic design.

The design inspiration for the Heritage Edition was to create a sense of time-travel, of a model from 1997 being brought back to life in the present. To achieve this, strong lighting and 3D visual technology were used to create a dramatic impact. The car was reproduced using CAD data, instead of shooting a physical car, fully utilizing the latest visual technology.

The unique properties of the Fairlady Z are its stability and popularity in both Japan and North America, even nearly 50 years after its first release. The brochure was designed to feature this special Z without too much retro-inspired aspect in the creatives, presenting the perspective of a modern sports car. The cover features an overhead view image of the racing stripes, boldly displayed against a 3DCG virtual space.

The design realization technology involved creating a 3DCG virtual space with a bold racing stripe, and placing a 3DCG vehicle created using CAD data in that space. All elements, including strong lighting to create impressions of time-travel, background lighting, reflections on the car and the floor, were created in the 3D space on the computer. The yellow body color, a representation of the Z at that time, was combined with a black stripe to pay homage to the Z.

One of the main challenges in creating this design was to present a modern sports car while making people recognize it as “the Z” at a glance. This required the use of the most advanced expression technology and a new way of doing things to create a modern atmosphere. Different kinds of creative techniques were used in artwork development to create reality in a virtual world.

The Nissan Fairlady Z 370Z Heritage Edition was launched in March 2018 in Japan. The brochure was released at the same time and will be used until the model gets updated. The design was awarded Platinum in A' Advertising, Marketing and Communication Design Award in 2019, recognizing its world-class, exceptional, and highly innovative design that contributes to societal wellbeing.