Nissan Leopard

The Nissan Leopard is a line of luxury sports cars built by Japanese carmaker Nissan. The Leopard began life in 1980 and was discontinued in 1999. Leopards were initially based on the Japanese market Nissan Skyline and Nissan Laurel and the American Datsun 910/Nissan Maxima, then later based on the chassis of their Nissan Cedric and Nissan Gloria contemporaries and were rear wheel drive. Final versions were the contributing factors to Nissan's Infiniti M and J products.

The Leopard sedan was sold exclusively in Japan at Nissan Bluebird Store locations as a companion to the Fairlady Z, allowing Nissan to sell a badge engineered version of the Skyline and Laurel, while the coupe was exclusive to Nissan Motor Store locations. The Leopard was cancelled as a result of Nissan Revival Plan as a casualty of overproduction.

First generation: F30 (1980-1986)

The first Leopard (also known as Leopard TR-X) was introduced in September 1980 as a contender in the upper medium class of cars, including its primary Toyota contender, the Toyota Chaser. The angular body, available as a two-door hardtop coupé "personal luxury car", and a four-door hardtop sedan, which featured very slim C- and D-pillars and large glass surfaces. The angular appearance was shared with the Fairlady Z, but the coupe was exclusive to Nissan Motor Store locations, while the sedan was exclusive to Nissan Bluebird Store Japanese Nissan dealerships. The coupe replaced the Nissan Cedric/Gloria coupe and the Nissan Laurel coupe. The wind resistance coefficient of the two-door version is 0.37. At the time of introduction, the two body styles both carried the same price tags. The Leopard featured some industry firsts, for instance a fuel consumption gauge in the dashboard.