Nissan Cima

The Nissan Cima (Japanese: 日産・シーマ, Nissan Shīma) is a luxury sedan manufactured and marketed by Nissan across five generations for the Japanese market — and for three generations as the Infiniti Q45 internationally.

The Cima nameplate derived from Spanish for "summit" or "top." Earlier generations featured a hood ornament with an image of an acanthus leaf that gave the Nissan Laurel its name. The acanthus leaf was commonly used by classical Greeks to make a wreath for use as a crown — notable, as the Cima's chief competitor in the Japanese Domestic market was the Toyota Crown.

The Cima in its first two generations was a more luxurious and larger version of the Cedric and Gloria, with the Cima sharing its V8 engine with the earlier flagship President, Nissan's competitor with the Toyota Century. The Cima was introduced in 1988, based on an elongated Cedric/Gloria chassis. With its sales success, about 64,000 units sold the first year and 120,000 in four years, the Cima became a symbol of the "bubble economy".

The Cedric Cima was marketed at Nissan Store, while the Gloria Cima was marketed at Nissan Prince Stores. Later generations of the Cima shared the same platform as the President, with the Cima being a shorter version, thereby allowing Nissan to continue offering the Cima at Nissan Prince Store locations. The last three Cima generations were marketed in the United States as the Infiniti Q45. The Q45 was discontinued after 2006, however the Cima and the President continued in production until August 2010, leaving the Fuga to become the flagship for the Infiniti line. April 2012, the Cima nameplate was resurrected, and resumed "flagship" status in Japan as a longer wheelbase version of the Fuga Hybrid.

In January 2021, Nissan considered canceling the Cima again, with production being halted at the end of 2020. The Nissan Japan website still listed it as available for new orders with a hybrid powertrain only, in three trim levels. According to the Nissan Factory website at Tochigi, Cima production was started up again in October 2021, only to be discontinued for the third and final time in 2022, leaving the Skyline to carry on as the sole sedan in Nissan's Japanese lineup.

Up until 1989, the Japanese tax bracket dictated a division point at the car being 4,700 mm (185.0 in) long, 1,700 mm (66.9 in) wide, with a 2-liter engine. Both the Cedric/Gloria and its arch-rival, the Toyota Crown were stretched to this very limit, with a larger engine version also available. The bigger versions received larger bumpers to take advantage of the absence of exterior dimension restrictions, but were still somewhat of a half measure as the bodywork itself remained narrow. Nissan had already begun updating the executive limousine President which would début October 1989 as an all new model, and the availability of the Laurel and Cefiro that shared a chassis with the Skyline.

When the Gloria was introduced by Prince in 1959, before Nissan acquired them in 1966, the Gloria was a stretched wheelbase version of the Prince Skyline. When the Cedric was introduced in 1960, it also was a stretched wheelbase version of the Nissan Bluebird.

When rumors came that Toyota was developing a larger, wider extension of the Crown, called the 4000 Royal Saloon G, Nissan acted hastily to add a full-sized version of the Cedric and Gloria. Nissan, however, was unable to get the wider version ready for the narrow version's launch in June 1987, because the all-new Y31 Cedric and Gloria had just been introduced. Nissan announced the intent to introduce the Cima September 2, 1987, followed by the debut at the Tokyo Motor Show Oct 29, 1987 alongside the MID4-II with sales beginning January 1988. The half-year gap in development, however, brought about many changes in design. An all new performance enhanced Cedric and Gloria, called the Gran Turismo, had also just been introduced so the Cima sought to improve on the Gran Turismo and bring it to market quickly. Nissan was also undergoing a full technological update of all their products under the Project 901 and the Cima benefited.