Nissan’s new crossover might also be a sports car

This, boys and girls, is a preview of Nissan’s new crossover. Yet it could also be its new Z car.

Yep. If you find the Juke Nismo RS somewhat discombobulating, then we suggest you go back to reading about the new 911. The strong money is on Nissan’s performance car future relying on SUV-alikes as heavily as the rest of its range.

What you see here is the sneakiest of glimpses of a concept Nissan is taking to next week’s Frankfurt motor show. We can’t see much of it, and we know even less about it.

“Nissan pioneered the crossover sector with its amazingly-successful Juke, Qashqai and X-Trail ranges,” the small amount of promotional bumf begins. “So can Nissan continue to innovate and move the bar higher? What if Nissan created a new way to feel driving excitement?”

From talking about itself in the third person to suggesting its crossover will be performance-orientated, there’s plenty of potential for anguish here.

But given the old-school nature of the 370Z, it seemed inevitable it would be taken in a different direction eventually, many expecting a downsized Toyota GT86 rival. But the quashing of plans to produce the sweet little IDX concept brought those to a halt.

Would a dedicated performance crossover be the best solution for Nissan, though? We’ll get a better idea of how we feel when the covers come off next week...