After taking a breather from several auto shows over the past year, Nissan decided about a week ago to come back to the Chicago Auto Show. And, even though it has no press conferences scheduled, it will be showing off the a special edition of the Nissan Z roadster to celebrate the automaker's 40th anniversary in the U.S. market.
Nissan planned to show journalists the car at a dinner at The Palms restaurant, but couldn't make it work. Chicago and much of the Midwest were bombarded with snow Tuesday, so the car was sent straight on to the auto show floor instead of the restaurant parking lot.
Nissan will make just 1,000 of the special edition Z's, which go on sale later this month for around $38,000. The car comes with manual transmission, 19-inch Rays forged aluminum-alloy wheels, red leather interior, red brake calipers and 40th Anniversary badges on the rear hatch and front shock tower brace.
Nissan says it decided to come back to the Chicago show, which will likely be an extremely quiet show, because dealers convinced executives that people really do make buying decisions based off visits to car shows. And Chicago is one of Nissan's bigger U.S. markets.
The jury is still out on Detroit, though. Nissan won't likely make a return to that show soon, given it only sells about 5,000 vehicles a year in the region.
