Nissan Leopard - Third Generation: Y32 (1992-1996)

Third Generation: Y32 (1992-1996)

The third generation was called Leopard J Ferie (jour férié is French for holiday) and appeared in June 1992. The word férié was also shared with the Honda Civic Ferio sold at the same time. It came only in saloon body style and followed the rounded shape of the U13 Bluebirds and Altimas. It was sold in North America as the Infiniti J30. All J30s/Leopard J Feries were built in Tochigi, Tochigi, Japan. Production of the Y32 Leopard ended on June 18, 1997. It had a MacPherson strut front suspension with a multi-link suspension for the rear wheels, and utilized HICAS, Nissan's four wheel steering technology. The Y32 Leopard was a rear wheel drive luxury car that started production April 7, 1992 as a 1993 model to replace the Nissan Leopard F31 (which was a 2-door coupe), and was launched in Japan after its competitor, the Toyota Windom.

The car was designed to slot between the smaller Nissan Primera and the larger Nissan Cedric, yet it shared a market position with the Nissan Cefiro and the Nissan Laurel, sold at different Nissan Japan sales channels. Also, it was fairly small and featured rounded styling uncharacteristic of the crowded executive luxury car class. The styling was meant to convey a more sport-minded appearance, in comparison to the Nissan Cedric, Gloria and Cima, on which this car shared a platform, that is now reminiscent of a four-door coupé. The chief exterior designer for the J30 was Jerry Hirschberg, president of Nissan Design International (NDI).

Power came from a 3.0 L VG30DE V6 (shared with the 300ZX) which produced 210 hp and 192 lb·ft (260 N·m) of torque. While it shares the Y32 Chassis with the Nissan Cedric/Gloria, it was also related to the Nissan Cima where it was offered with both the VG30DE and VH41DE V8. No turbo was available on this particular Leopard sedan. In Japan, three trim levels were offered, with the Type F offered with the VG30DE V6, the Type X with VH41DE V8 and a shared equipment level with the Type F, followed by the Type X-S sharing the equalivent content level with the North American V8 equipped J30, and the Type L which had the same equipment level as the Type X with the smaller V6 engine shared with the Type L-S sharing the equipment package with the Type X-S also V6 equipped.

To establish that this was a luxury vehicle, the plush leather interior was designed with assistance from Poltrona Frau of Italy. The seats were made by Poltrona Frau at a rate of only five a day. The interior treatment continued to use the contrasting arrangement used in the larger Nissan Infiniti Q45 with a dark color used for the dashboard, and center console, with a lighter shade color used inside for the seats, interior door panels, headliner, carpet, and carpeted floor mats. The driver's side window controls had an unusual placement in that the drivers window switch was both one-touch express down and double-sized, meaning it was the same width as two conventional window switches towards the top, with the front and rear passenger window switches further down, with the window lockout switch installed next to the front passenger switch, instead of the drivers window switch. The front passenger and rear passenger window switches were thumb activated, installed at the top of the interior door pull handle. This version of the Leopard was the first car sold in Japan to include a passenger-side airbag as standard equipment.

One of the numerous reasons the Y32 Leopard didn't meet projected sales goals was that its most distinguishing feature was a lack of interior room. It had the distinction of being a mid-size car with the space of a subcompact (less than a Sentra) due to its sloping roofline and rounded down trunk. The styling of the vehicle was more favorably regarded in Japan than it was in the USA. Total production of this vehicle was around 7,000 units internationally.

Information for this section of the article was translated from Leopard J Ferie.com