The Nissan Gazelle was a compact 2 door coupe and three-door hatchback produced by Nissan, based on the Nissan S platform. It was produced for the Japanese and Australian markets only. The Gazelle is a sister car to the Nissan Silvia. It was produced so that Nissan's different dealership networks in Japan could all carry the Silvia. There are minor cosmetic differences between the two cars. Both the S110 and S12 Silvias have a Gazelle counterpart.
The S12 Silvia in Japan was available as a hatch as a basic model only, but the S12 Gazelle in Japan was strictly a hatch, available in regular, RS and RS-X variants, as was the Silvia notchback. Japanese spec models came with many options like voice command, fog lights and options for different motors (FJ20E, FJ20ET, CA18DE, CA18E, CA18DET.). The RS-X model also came with different factory alloy wheels.
In the Australian market the S12 chassis, both body styles were sold as the Nissan Gazelle, in GL (normal) and SGL (luxury) forms, with electric mirrors and windows.
The Australian released models of the S12 Gazelle came standard with an SOHC CA20E motor, Producing 78 kW @ 5200rpm, and 160Nm of torque @ 3200-3200rpm. This engine was mated to either a 5 speed manual gearbox or a 4 speed automatic. This has made the S12 Gazelle very popular for engine conversions among motoring enthusiasts, as a sports coupe the ca20e was very underpowered, as were the brakes (front disks were very small, rear drum brakes standard). the CA18DE/T being a direct bolt in replacement for the CA20E is quite popular, and requires no modification to the drive train other than the engine itself.
When the S13 Silvia was introduced in 1988, the Gazelle nameplate was eliminated. The Nissan 180SX took its place in Japan, although in Australia, there would not be a replacement until the introduction of the Silvia-based Nissan 200SX in 1995.
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