Nissan Leopard

This article incorporates information from the equivalent article on the Japanese Wikipedia.

The Nissan Leopard is a line of luxury sports cars built by Japanese carmaker Nissan. The Leopard began life in 1980 and was discontinued in 1999. Leopards were initially based on the Japanese market Nissan Skyline and Nissan Laurel and the American Datsun 910/Nissan Maxima, then later based on the chassis of their Nissan Cedric and Nissan Gloria contemporaries and were rear wheel drive. Final versions were the contributing factors to Nissan's Infiniti M and J products. The Leopard was sold exclusively in Japan at Nissan Blue Stage dealerships.

First generation: F30 (1980-1986)

The first Leopard (also known as Leopard TR-X) was introduced in September 1980 as a contender in the upper medium class of cars, including its primary Toyota contender, the Toyota Chaser. The angular body, available as a 2-door hardtop coupe and a 4-door hardtop sedan, featured very thin C- and D-pillars and large glass surfaces. The Leopard featured some industry firsts, for instance a fuel consumption gauge in the dashboard. Originally the Leopard was available with naturally aspirated inline four and six cylinder engines of 1800, 2000 and 2800 cc displacement; in September 1982 (when the car received a mild facelift) a two liter turbo-engine was added. In 1984 a limited Turbo Grand Edition with the 300ZX's 3 litre turbo engine joined the line-up.

According to a translated Japanese Wikipedia article on the Leopard, the car was based on the North American market Datsun 810, which was renamed the Nissan Maxima, and shared a common platform with the Datsun 910. The Japanese version had side view mirrors mounted on the front fenders and had small wipers attached to the top of the mirrors to remove accumulated rain on the surface of the mirror. The vehicles styling seemed to be influenced by the Toyota Soarer, however when the Leopard was introduced, the styling was already a little dated as the Soarer had been recently updated.

A list of the various trim levels the Leopard was initially available as:
L-280X SF
L-200X SF
200X SF
200X CF
180X CF
180X F

After a mild styling update, the car was offered in the following variations:
300 TURBO GRAND EDITION
TURBO ZGX SUPER EDITION
TURBO ZGX
TURBO SGX
200X ZGX
200X SGX
180X SGX
180X GX

Second generation: F31 (1986-1992)

The F31 Leopard appeared in February 1986 and was only available as a luxury GT coupé. In the US, 5000 Leopards were imported and 2500 of those were converted to convertibles by ASC. In the USA, the F31 was called the Infiniti M30. It was Infiniti's first-ever coupe, as well as the only convertible offered by Infiniti at the time. This vehicle shared a platform with the Nissan Skyline R31, and the Nissan Laurel C32 to share development costs.

The F30 and F31 Leopards were direct competitors to the Toyota Soarer. Whereas the Soarer had the 1G-GTE twin-turbo 2L straight six, the similar-looking Leopard coupé came with the options of a VG30DET, VG30DE, VG20DET (post 1988), VG20ET (prior to 1988), and VG20E. Early 2.0 turbo versions had the single-cam (per bank) VG20ET, but from August 1988, the quad cam version appeared, the body was also face lifted at this time. Available in top spec form was the 3 litre VG30DET engine which produced 190 kW/255 hp. Only the VG20ET and VG20DET engines had an intercooler.

Compared to the Soarer, the Leopard was somewhat more angular, but with neater detailing around the windows. The windows were also flush, without the strange proportions of the Soarer's glass.

The VG20 V6 produces surprisingly good torque in turbo form, and is generally quite a reliable unit.

The Leopard F31 had no factory options, but dealers offered the addition of a cellular phone and a CD player/changer. Like the Skyline and 300ZX, the Leopard coupe was a front-engined and rear-wheel drive vehicle. The RE4R01A 4 speed automatic with electronic overdrive was used as well as a 5 speed manual transmission, that wasn't available on the USA-spec Infiniti M30. The differential was a Nissan R200-type open differential.

The Leopard F31 was equipped with the Sonar Suspension II system that was also installed on other Nissan vehicles at the time, which featured a sonar module mounted under the front bumper that scanned the road surface and adjusted the suspension accordingly via actuators mounted on the strut towers. There was also a switch on the center console that allowed the driver to change between "Sport" and "Comfort" settings—essentially "firm" and "soft", respectively.

The Leopard F31's production run lasted for 7 years, ending in 1992 due to lagging sales. Nobody knows exactly how many models were produced, but it has been said that just over 5000 were made, half coupes, half convertibles for the USA market.

Third generation: Y32 (1992-1996)

The third generation was called Leopard J Ferie (férié is French for holiday) and appeared in June 1992. The word férié was also shared with the Honda Civic Ferio sold at the same time. It came only in saloon body style and followed the rounded shape of the U13 Bluebirds and Altimas. It was sold in North America as the Infiniti J30. All J30s/Leopard J Feries were built in Tochigi, Tochigi, Japan. Production of the Y32 Leopard ended on June 18, 1997. It had a MacPherson strut front suspension with a multi-link suspension for the rear wheels, and utilized HICAS, Nissan's four wheel steering technology. The Y32 Leopard was a rear wheel drive luxury car that started production April 7, 1992 as a 1993 model to replace the Nissan Leopard F31 (which was a 2-door coupe), and was launched in Japan after its competitor, the Toyota Windom.

The car was designed to slot between the smaller Nissan Primera and the larger Nissan Cedric, yet it shared a market position with the Nissan Cefiro and the Nissan Laurel, sold at different Nissan Japan sales channels. Also, it was fairly small and featured rounded styling uncharacteristic of the crowded executive luxury car class. The styling was meant to convey a more sport-minded appearance, in comparison to the Nissan Cedric, Gloria and Cima, on which this car shared a platform, that is now reminiscent of a four-door coupé. The chief exterior designer for the J30 was Jerry Hirschberg, president of Nissan Design International (NDI).

Power came from a 3.0 L VG30DE V6 (shared with the 300ZX) which produced 210 hp and 192 lb·ft (260 N·m) of torque. While it shares the Y32 Chassis with the Nissan Cedric/Gloria, it was also related to the Nissan Cima where it was offered with both the VG30DE and VH41DE V8. No turbo was available on this particular Leopard sedan. In Japan, three trim levels were offered, with the Type F offered with the VG30DE V6, the Type X with VH41DE V8 and a shared equipment level with the Type F, followed by the Type X-S sharing the equalivent content level with the North American V8 equipped J30, and the Type L which had the same equipment level as the Type X with the smaller V6 engine shared with the Type L-S sharing the equipment package with the Type X-S also V6 equipped.

To establish that this was a luxury vehicle, the interior was largely designed with assistance from Poltrona Frau [1] of Italy. The interior treatment continued to use the contrasting arrangement used in the larger Nissan Infiniti Q45 with a dark color used for the dashboard, and center console, with a lighter shade color used inside for the seats, interior door panels, headliner, carpet, and carpeted floor mats. The driver's side window controls had an unusual placement in that the drivers window switch was both one-touch express down and double-sized, meaning it was the same width as two conventional window switches towards the top, with the front and rear passenger window switches further down, with the window lockout switch installed next to the front passenger switch, instead of the drivers window switch. The front passenger and rear passenger window switches were thumb activated, installed at the top of the interior door pull handle. This version of the Leopard was the first car sold in Japan to include a passenger-side airbag as standard equipment.

One of the numerous reasons the Y32 Leopard didn't meet projected sales goals was that its most distinguishing feature was a lack of interior room. It had the distinction of being a mid-size car with the space of a subcompact (less than a Sentra) due to its sloping roofline and rounded down trunk. The styling of the vehicle was more favorably regarded in Japan than it was in the USA. Total production of this vehicle was around 7,000 units internationally.

Information for this section of the article was translated from Leopard J Ferie.com

Fourth generation: Y33 (1996-1999)

The fourth and last generation of the Leopard, introduced in March 1996, again was offered as a hardtop sedan only, using a frameless side window approach, but using a "B" pillar to improve side impact crash resistance and vehicle solidity. The "J Ferie" name was dropped for this version of the Leopard. It was based on the Y33 Cedric/Gloria and Cima chassis. Development of this vehicle had begun before the recession had begun in Japan, so when this vehicle appeared, economic conditions had already begun to soften, which had an effect on overall sales. Vehicles being offered from Nissan at the time overlapped with companion platform mates, and there were few distinctions between the other large Nissan sedans.

It wasn't available in North America where the Infiniti mid-range had been replaced by the Nissan Cefiro/Infiniti I30. A V8 engine was no longer offered, and AWD was offered on the RB25DET turbocharged Straight 6 engine. This vehicle also utilized Nissan's direct fuel injection engine configuration, which supplied fuel directly inside the engine cylinder, instead of inside the intake manifold just before entering the cylinders.

External links

• Nissan Sedan history (japanese site)