According to a report from Top Gear, around 40 percent of Nissan's future cars, at least those sold in Europe, will be electrified by 2022. There's no reason not to believe a similar goal will be applied to other global markets, including North America. Top Gear learned this figure from Nissan marketing boss Jean-Pierre Diernaz, who went on record to say he doesn't see anything wrong with combining battery technology with sports cars.

"I don't see electrification and sports cars as technologies that are conflicting. Maybe it's the other way around, sports cars can benefit lots from electrification. At the end of the day, a motor and battery are much easier to move from one platform to another, from one sub-segment to another, than a full internal combustion set-up."

Remember, Nissan was one of the first mainstream automakers to commit to electrified propulsion when it launched the first generation Leaf back in 2010. More recently, it joined Formula E in order to help advance the technologies even further and faster. Given all of that, it seems reasonable that the next generation Z-car and GT-R will adapt electrification to some degree. When asked about the future of those two sports cars, Diernaz said that "It's a work in progress! Not everything is confirmed in terms of dates. Sports cars are part of who we are, so one way or another they have to be there."

Unfortunately, Nissan will not have the next Z-car ready in time for its 50th anniversary in 2019, so we'll have to make do with a special edition of the current 370Z, which has been on the market for a decade.

Another interesting factor that'll surely influence the next Z-car is the upcoming Toyota Supra. Although that Japanese rival won't have an electrified powertrain, Nissan could very easily take advantage of that fact. As for the next GT-R, all we know is what we've already reported: development is ongoing. Without question it'll once again serve as the brand's halo car, meaning it'll also have some of the most advanced technologies including batteries. Question is, will it be a fully electrified platform? A hybrid? Plug-in hybrid? Nissan is doing a very good job at keeping that a secret.