2025 Nissan Z Is Getting Bayside Blue, No Change in Price

As Nissan’s CEO awaits the results of a board meeting next week that will determine his fate, the Z keeps things cheery for 2025 with an unchanged MSRP and a new paint hue that any GT-R fan will know a mile away: Bayside Blue.

Like the current model-year car, an automatic- or manual-transmission Nissan Z Sport (the entry-level trim) has a starting MSRP of $42,970 for 2025. Destination remains $1140, so you can expect to spend $44,110 before tax or title. The higher trim level, Performance, costs $54,110, as before, for either a manual or an automatic car. Even the NISMO version doesn’t get a price hike: It costs $66,890.

Bayside Blue is one of three new paint colors for the 2025 Z. The other two are two-tones, according to Nissan: Pearl White Tricoat with Super Black roof and Solid Red with Super Black roof.

A brief aside: We’d argue that painting the roof a different color than the rest of the car doesn’t qualify as a two-tone scheme. The second paint color must descend below the roofline, in our not so humble opinion, and ideally it should cover some other body panel as well. Bonus points if a single panel wears two different colors, as on a Bel Air or Austin Healey 3000.

At the same time, we realize that Nissan was evidently trying not to make the 2025 Z more expensive, and a more complex paint process would definitely cost more to execute, so we’ll give the beleaguered automaker a pass.

So, Bayside Blue — what’s the big deal? Simply put, Bayside Blue is the color for a GT-R. If all Corvettes are red, all GT-Rs are Bayside Blue. The R34-generation GT-R—the same vintage that Paul Walker’s character drove in 2 Fast 2 Furious—is the most famous early wearer of the paint color, but japanesenostalgiccar.com spoke to a manager in Nissan’s Color Design Group, Kei Yoshitomi, who said that Bayside Blue actually had its origins in the previous generation of GT-R, the R33. A race car based on the R33 competed at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1995 with a red, white, and Champion Blue livery.

Unfortunately for Nissan, that was the year that the McLaren F1 cleaned house, finishing 1-3-4-5 overall and 1-2-3-4 in its class (at its very first Le Mans!). The GT-R, competing in that same GT1 class, finished fifth. Nissan decided that finish was well worth celebrating and built a special edition of the R33 painted Champion Blue. For the R34 generation of GT-R, the company liked that solid blue but decided to tweak it a bit, and Bayside Blue was born.

Naturally, the most recent (and recently departed) version of the GT-R, logically termed the R35, also wore Bayside Blue. Nissan stopped taking orders for the R35 only days ago. Its Japan site included the following statement:

“We have received many orders for the Nissan GT-R, and we have now finished accepting orders for the planned production quantity. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to our many customers for their patronage over the years since its release in 2007.”

What better way to complement your Bayside Blue R35 (or R33 or R34!), if you have one than with a matching Z? And if Godzilla is out of your price range—well, a 2025 Z might be just the ticket.