Nissan’s got a Fairlady Z trademark filed in US

Nissan, in mid-June, confirmed the August 17 launch date of its upcoming Z model via a tweet. The unveiling is at the 2021 New York Auto Show, and with the launch date just a month away, the naming speculations has got a reignited spark from a new trademark. On July 11, 2021, Nissan filed a trademark with the USPTO for “Fairlady Z.”

Earlier rumours suggested the upcoming Z could be named as the 2022 Nissan 400Z in continuation from the outgoing 370Z. While another group of enthusiasts believed the new model will go by “Nissan Z” instead.

But with the new significant trademark, we finally have the confirmed name of the next-gen Nissan Z model. Or do we? The Fairlady Z name makes perfect sense because the first-generation 240Z was originally sold as the Fairlady Z in Japan. The Z Proto featured a Fairlady badge on the rear decklid as a homage to the original, possibly hinting at a comeback for the iconic name.

However, the nameplate never made it out of the Asian country, at least not until now. It’s about time! Or is it? Another set of opinions believe Nissan is highly unlikely to call the new car a Fairlady in the US. They believe it could just be to protect the name for use on other vehicles, as the trademark only covers “stylized words/letters.”

Additional reports suggest Nissan intends to use the Fairlady name on “tie tacks, cuff links, lapel pins, watches, clocks, wall clocks, keyrings of precious metal, and ornamental badges of precious metal.” A similar application for a stylized letter Z was also submitted to the USPTO.

The name was re-coined by Nissan president Katsuji Kawamata after seeing the Broadway musical ‘My Fair Lady’ during a visit to the US. He believed the name would represent the beauty of the car and the music, but Nissan eventually decided it wasn’t aggressive enough for a sports car and came up with 240Z instead.

So we’re back to square zero. It appears Nissan will keep the next-generation Z car’s name close to its chest until the official reveal. If we had to guess, the Z car will likely go by different names depending on the market. Maybe Japan will get back its Fairlady Z while in the international market it might get baptised as the Nissan Z. However, we have no option but to wait till 17.08.2021 when the twin-turbocharged V6 engined car will shed its cover at the 2021 NY Auto Show.

Nissan’s Z range was introduced in 1969 and has gone through six alterations since its inception. The two-door sports car that will be introduced in August this year will be the seventh-generation Z sports car. The 3.0-litre engine is rumoured to have been borrowed from the Infiniti Q60 Red Sport 400 and is expected to churn out 400 hp of maximum power and 475 Nm of torque with retuned settings. Further speculations suggest a manual transmission as standard (with an automatic available as an option) and a rear-wheel-drive setup.