Don't get too excited over the Nissan IDx we just saw at the Detroit auto show this year. All signs pointed to a BRZ/FR-S competitor, but Nissan says those plans are still up in the air.
Nissan is facing the same dilemma Toyota and Subaru faced when putting the GT86 twins in development: Using an expensive platform to sell a cheap car in low volume.
Speaking to Ward's, Nissan's vice president of product planning Pierre Loing says if Nissan were to do it, they'd have to make the business case. Unlike Toyota and Subaru, Nissan doesn't have a partner going in to make the IDx.
"It's not easy to do, (and) if you do something like this and you manage to do a vehicle at (a low) price, what else would you do on this platform? Because frankly to do a platform for 50,000 or 60,000 (units) a year – it's not worth it," Loing tells WardsAuto here during a recent Nissan full-line media event.
Previous reports suggested we might see the IDx in 2016, but Loing says it won't come that early even if Nissan gets the green light for production.
Loing also dropped an interesting tidbit to Ward's: Remember how we thought the Cube was dead in the U.S.? The next-generation Cube will be sold in Japan starting with the 2016 model year, but Loing says "there will be an announcement on '15 to come" regarding the U.S. So maybe?