370Z ROADSTER

The new 370Z Roadster will stick with a soft-top roof and should appear in showrooms in the second half of the year.

With the first trickle of 370Z Coupes starting to hit showrooms across the United States, Nissan has confirmed that the Roadster version of the car will make its world debut at April's New York Auto Show.

Nissan chose to avoid this month’s Detroit Auto Show in an attempt to cut costs but the company has a tradition of making major reveals at the New York event and with the Roadster due to go on sale in the second half of the year the decision was an obvious one.

The confirmation was first reported by Edmunds, which also claims that the car will stick with a conventional folding soft-top roof to keep weight down and set it apart from the more premium Infiniti G37 Convertible and its folding metal hard-top.

Under the hood of the Roadster will be the same 3.7L VQ37VHR V6 as the Coupe, rated at 332hp (247kW) and 270lb-ft (366Nm) of torque.

In keeping with the ‘affordable performance’ theme of its 350Z predecessor, Nissan will price the new 370Z Roadster only slightly above the Coupe, which starts at $29,930 (excluding destination charges).

The new price represents a $1,420 increase over the 2008 350Z, so expect a similar hike for the Roadster.