Nissan just pulled off a neat trick. It built the exact car enthusiasts have been screaming for — a Z Nismo with a six-speed manual — and then made it nearly impossible to buy.
The automaker is overhauling how it sells the Z for the 2027 model year, shifting to a build-to-order production model that will dramatically slash the number of cars sitting on dealer lots. The average dealership will receive just two to three Zs for the entire year. And the manual-equipped Nismo? According to a source who spoke to Carscoops, fewer than 10 percent of total Z production will carry that stick-shift Nismo badge.
Worse still, those allocations are reportedly already spoken for at the national level. Let that sink in. The car hasn’t launched in the U.S. yet, and there are no manual Nismo allocations left for dealers to claim.
This is a complete reversal from where Nissan was just two years ago. The company overproduced 2024 model-year Zs, stuffing dealer lots with cars nobody ordered in colors and trims nobody wanted. Heavy incentives followed, discounts piled up, and Nissan bled margin for it.
The Z moved 5,487 units in 2025, up 74 percent from the prior year and nearly double the rival Toyota Supra’s tally. But much of that momentum was fueled by clearance-sale pricing on leftover inventory. Nissan isn’t making that mistake again.
“Nissan is taking a more tailored production approach with Z to better align with customer demand,” the company confirmed to multiple outlets. Former Nissan SVP Michael Soutter hinted at this direction back in November, telling The Drive that getting the wrong color or package combination on a niche sports car means it just sits there, bleeding money through incentive spending.
The 2027 Z itself is a more compelling package than before. A refreshed front end cleans up the design, and a new Shinkai Green Metallic paint option over a tan interior is already generating buzz among fans. The lineup spans Sport, Performance, and Nismo trims, but the crown jewel — the manual Nismo — is the one generating the most heat and the least availability.
Forum posts on NissanZClub first flagged the production shift, sharing what appeared to be dealer presentation materials warning of “scarce production ahead.” Some dealer ordering systems reportedly show only Sport and Performance trims still available to configure. The Nismo manual slot? Gone.
This is where the story turns ugly for buyers. Limited supply plus confirmed demand equals pricing leverage, and history tells us exactly how this plays out. Throughout the Z’s lifecycle, dealers have slapped eye-watering markups on the car whenever inventory ran thin.
There is every reason to expect the same behavior here, particularly on the manual Nismo. Even if Nissan holds MSRP steady, transaction prices will likely tell a different story.
Some dealerships have committed to selling at sticker regardless of demand, and those are the ones worth seeking out. The rest will treat the manual Nismo like a lottery ticket — their lottery ticket, priced accordingly.
Nissan finds itself in a strange position. It finally gave the people what they wanted: the purest Z driving experience imaginable, a high-performance Nismo with three pedals and a proper shifter. Then it built a velvet rope around it.
The strategy makes cold financial sense after the 2024 overproduction debacle. But for the enthusiast who has been waiting years for this exact car, being told to beg a dealer for the privilege of paying over sticker is a bitter pill.
If you want one, the time to start making phone calls was yesterday. Tomorrow might already be too late.
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