Nissan 350Z Roadster: Cabriolet of the Year 2005

Press Release

Customer deliveries have not yet begun, but Nissan's 350Z Roadster has already won its first European accolade. It has been awarded the honour of "Cabriolet of the Year" at the Geneva Motor Show.

The jury of international automotive journalists voted unanimously for the 350Z Roadster in recognition of its performance and design. Since 1994, the "Cabriolet Committee" has awarded this high honour at the opening of the Geneva Motor show and it traditionally heralds the start of the season for the purchase of convertible cars as winter disappears and spring arrives.

The honour of "Cabriolet of the Year" is the 42nd accolade to have been given to the 350Z internationally. Of those, 12 have been awarded in Europe and 19 in the United States.

The President of the Geneva Motor Show, Claude Sage, presented the honour to Tsunehiro Kunimoto, Project Design Director, Nissan Design, on Wednesday 2 March on the Nissan stand.

He said: "It is a great honour to receive this wonderful award at the Geneva Motor Show. The first customers will soon take delivery of the 350Z Roadster in Europe and we are very optimistic that it will prove to be as popular and successful as it has been in the US and Japan."

The first deliveries of the Roadster will begin to customers later this month across Europe. The 350Z Roadster is a two seater convertible, powered by the same 3.5-litre V6 engine VQ engine that is found in the Coupe. It produces 280PS of power and 363Nm of torque and powers the rear wheels via a six-speed manual gearbox. The electric folding soft-top mechanism lowers and raises the roof in 20 seconds.