Jay Leno lets us in on some of his VIP treatment by bringing his camera crew along with him on his recent trip to Nissan’s Technical Center in Japan to film these two videos. In the first video he gets to tour all of Nissan’s zero emissions and fuel cell vehicles. Jay checks out some of the electric vehicle concepts and then he gets a pleasant surprise from Nissan’s Chief Creative Officer, Shiro Nakamura, who gives him a sneak peek of the Terra fuel cell compact SUV that was debuted last week at the Paris Auto Show. Unlike some of the quirkier cars in the room, the Terra actually looks like it could go into production. I’m glad to see zero emissions vehicles starting to branch out into markets beyond funny looking compact cars.

The second part of Jay’s tour takes him into the design center where they’re working on what may be the new Z car. Nakamura reveals that they are working on a new car to celebrate Nissan’s 80th anniversary. He shows Jay some of the concept sketches from the 350Z and 370Z and Nakamura even sits him down with one of the designers to rough out a silhouette. It’s a cool inside look at the design process but nothing groundbreaking gets shown on camera. We’ll have to wait and see what they come up with for the next Z. The last rumors that I read said that the next Z’s engine would probably be downsized to a turbocharged four and that Nissan may also be working on a smaller rear drive sports car kind of like a Scion FR-S/Toyota GT-86/Subaru BRZ fighter that could be considered the spiritual successor of the Silvia badge (240sx here in the US).

Source: Jay Leno’s Garage on YouTube