Nissan has detailed the future roles of its Japanese production sites, and the line that matters for sports car buyers is short: under the newly announced plan, Fairlady Z and Skyline production stays at Tochigi Plant 1.
The announcement, made on September 10, organizes domestic manufacturing around three operations. Tochigi, in Kaminokawa, Tochigi Prefecture, is designated the advanced production hub. Plant 1 continues in its sports car role, building the Fairlady Z and the Skyline. Plant 2, which already builds the Leaf and the Ariya, becomes the minivan center: Nissan will move Serena production there from Nissan Motor Kyushu and Elgrand production from Nissan Shatai Kyushu. Nissan says those transfers will happen over the medium term but has not announced a timetable.
Nissan also assigned more specialized roles to its two Kyushu operations. Nissan Motor Kyushu becomes the global core site for B- and C-segment cars — Note, Note Aura, Kicks, a new global B-segment model, and the Rogue/X-Trail. Nissan Shatai Kyushu specializes in body-on-frame and small commercial vehicles: Patrol, Armada, QX80 and Caravan. Across all of it, Nissan says it is aiming at roughly one million units of annual production in Japan over the long term.
Why the Tochigi plan matters for the Z and Skyline
Plant assignments are the least glamorous part of any restructuring announcement, and they are also the part that says what a company currently intends to build where. The announcement comes as Nissan reorganizes its Japanese manufacturing footprint and works to improve plant utilization, so a line naming one specific building as the continuing sports car site is not filler.
It is relevant outside Japan for one concrete reason: provenance. Under this plan the Z and the Skyline continue to be built in Japan, a point likely to matter to collectors and importers who weigh where a car was actually assembled.
What the announcement does not do is settle the future. Keeping the line active preserves production capability at Tochigi, but Nissan has not said where any next-generation Z or Skyline would be built, and nothing here should be read as a guarantee of tooling, staffing or permanence.
The Skyline does appear among the models Nissan says it will introduce going forward, alongside the Patrol and a new global B-segment car. Car Watch's report links that to a teaser Nissan showed in April 2026 but gives no launch date, and we have not been able to confirm a timing claim from a primary source. Treat the next Skyline's schedule as unannounced.
For the Z itself, the relevant context remains what Nissan has already said about the car's place in the Japanese lineup. The September 10 announcement does not change the product. It confirms that, under Nissan's current manufacturing plan, Tochigi Plant 1 keeps its sports car role.