Nissan: Nissan’s first performance line began as the ’60s drew to a close, when the company, formerly known as Datsun, released the 240z. The 1970 “Z”, as the car and its successors became to be known, was one of Japan’s greatest hits, selling over 140,000 models in the car’s first four years in American markets alone. Over the years, the Z has seen several improvements through various different models, most recently the 2019 Nissan 370z NISMO* making a maximum of 350 horsepower. Now, Nissan’s top engineers have created the all-new “Z Proto”, or as fans call it, the new 400z. The Proto will mark a new generation of Nissan’s Z line, a milestone fans aren’t the most content with due to the deviation from the 370z’s design. The car now features a much more sleek design, one that incorporates and accentuates traces of the shape of older Z’s into a light, futuristic body. Under its traditionally elongated hood sits a twin-turbo 3.0 L V6 that is suspected to make around 400 horsepower. The Proto will have a 6-speed manual transmission, and many of its stats are hidden due to its release date set to be later this year during the spring. As the days draw closer for Z's biggest day yet, fans grow restless for the release of Nissan’s next step in Z history. As for Nissan’s other main performance car, the GT-R “sportscar” is very well alive and kicking. Starting in 2009, the Nissan GT-R supercar (Nissan has advertised it as a sports car but the car’s potential earns it the supercar title) has been refined through the present into the 2021 GT-R. Boasting a max of 600 horsepower, the GT-R Premium tops out at 196 mph, while its NISMO counterpart soars at 205 mph. The 2021 models of these cars provide excellent mechanical performance, as well as the integration of Nissan’s latest driver assistance technologies to make the car both a remarkable performer at high speeds and a casual driving car at the same time. The future of the GT-R seems bright as Nissan progresses to make breakthroughs in driver-assistance technologies and moves forwards with its electric car plans, suggesting more development in the GT-R’s electrical works later on.

* “NISMO” stands for “Nissan Motorsports International”, and the title is included in the company’s highest-performing models

BMW: BMW’s future is as big as the grills on their latest models! Jokes aside, the company began its interest in electric cars with the 2013 BMW i3, an incredibly small, fully electric compact car. Roughly a year later, the German automaker released the world’s first hybrid supercar- the $136,600 i8. Running on a turbocharged three-cylinder 1.5 L engine, the car also has an electric motor to spin each of the car’s wheels, driving it to a top speed of 155 mph on German autobahns. The company’s success in electric automobiles has led them to the development of the i4, an upcoming fully-electric sedan that meets BMW’s century-long standard for luxury at high speeds and comfortable style while tackling the track. The 2022 i4 is expected to come in three variants: the i435, i440, and i4 M50 xDrive, the latter of which will clearly be the company’s performance model (implied by the M* in the model name). Much of the car’s statistics are unknown, though the automaker has released several pictures of the car through their website. With production due to begin in less than twelve months, fans of the legendary automaker have their eyes laid carefully on the development of the i4.

*Similar to Nissan’s “NISMO” branch, the “M” branding is reserved for BMW’s top-of-the-line performance model.