Nissan Z facelift unveiled in Japan with more retro elements

With little fanfare, the facelifted Nissan Z – known as the Fairlady Z in its homeland – has been revealed at the 2026 Tokyo Auto Salon.

Externally, the major components of the facelift are the new front bumper, alloy wheels, and the Unryu Green hero paint option.

The new bumper dispenses with the current car’s confronting slab-like rectangular grille opening in favour a wider design broken up by a body colour bar. The bumper itself is more sculpted and more cleanly continues the creases established by the bonnet.

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It’s not only a more cohesive design, but it decreases front lift by 3.3 per cent and reduces drag by 1.0 per cent. The updated Z ditches the Nissan corporate emblem up front in favour of a Z logo.

The facelift model leans further into this generation’s retro theme with its two-tone alloy wheels, while the Unryu Green paint job is inspired by the Grand Prix Green available on the original ‘S30’ generation. The car on display here is missing the subtle boot lip spoiler fitted to pre-facelift models.

Under the skin Nissan has upgraded the shocks with bigger pistons, and fitted larger brakes too. The 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 is unchanged, and continues to deliver 298kW and 475Nm to the rear wheels via either a six-speed manual or nine-speed automatic.

On the inside, there don’t seem to be significant changes, but there is a tan trim option for the seats, and lower dashboard and door cards. Interestingly these images show a manual car with paddle shifters behind the steering wheel.

Also on display at Nissan’s Tokyo Auto Salon stand is the previously revealed manual Nismo variant. The Nismo model misses out on the facelift Z’s new bumper as it already has its own, more aggressive and sculpted front fascia.

It’s unclear when the facelift Z will arrive in Australia and other export markets, but it will go on sale in Japan in the middle of year, during the northern summer.

MORE: Explore the Nissan Z showroom