}} The third generation (internally the Y32 Leopard) was designed by
Jerry Hirshberg, president of Nissan Design International (NDI) and marketed as the
Leopard J Ferie, beginning in June 1992 — as a four-door, five-passenger rear-drive sedan. Production began on April 7, 1992 as a 1993 model, and production ended on June 18, 1997. This was the second and last generation of Leopard to be sold in North America, where it was sold as the
Infiniti J30. The Leopard abandoned the coupe, and changed platforms from the Skyline and Laurel to the longer Cedric and Gloria. The sedan was the only body style offered, and was exclusive to
Nissan Store. Its appearance at introduction was distinctive, and the small interior resulted from its rounded styling uncharacteristic of the crowded
executive car class at the time, which is now considered an early variant of a
four-door coupé. All J30s/Leopard J Feries were manufactured in
Tochigi, Tochigi,
Japan. The series used a
MacPherson strut front suspension with a
multi-link suspension rear suspension and Nissan's upgraded proprietary four wheel steering technology,
Super HICAS. The nameplate
J Férié derives from the French
jour férié, for holiday. The word
Ferie was (almost) shared with the
Honda Civic Ferio marketed at the same time. Power came from a 3.0
L VG30DE V6 (shared with the
300ZX) which produced and of
torque. While it shares the Y32 Chassis with the
Nissan Cedric/
Gloria, it was offered the engines used in the
Nissan Cima Y32 where it was offered with both the
VG30DE and
VH41DE V8. In Japan, three trim levels were offered, the Type X with VH41DE V8, the Type L which had the same equipment level as the Type X with the smaller VG30DE V6 engine, and the Type F offered with the V6 but more modestly equipped. Later updates offered the Type X-S V6 sharing the equivalent content level with the North American V6 equipped J30, and the Type L-S V6 sharing the equipment package with the Type X-S. The V8 claimed in Japanese specifications. This generation was the first time an engine with a displacement under 2.0 L wasn't offered in Japan, and resulted in Japanese buyers being liable for a higher annual
road tax bill which affected sales. The previous generation 6-inch CRT TV screen was upgraded to a color LCD screen, that was installed in the dashboard below the A/C controls that allowed passengers to watch broadcast TV if the transmission was in Park and the parking brake applied. As before, the screen was not touch sensitive, and didn't offer a CD-ROM based navigation system. The display also showed AM/FM stereo settings. The video entertainment system also had
RCA connections to attach a camcorder and watch recorded video. The stereo and video equipment was supplied by Sony. The leather interior was designed with assistance from
Poltrona Frau of Italy. The seats were made by Poltrona Frau at a rate of five per day. The interior treatment continued to use the contrasting arrangement used in the larger Nissan Infiniti Q45 with a dark color used for the dashboard, and center console, with a lighter shade color used inside for the seats, interior door panels, headliner, carpet, and carpeted floor mats. The drivers window switch was both one-touch express down and double-sized, i.e., the same width as two conventional window switches, with the front and rear passenger window switches further down and the window lockout switch installed next to the front passenger switch. The front passenger and rear passenger window switches were thumb activated, installed at the top of the interior door pull handle. The Y32 was the first car sold in Japan to include a passenger-side airbag as standard equipment. One of the numerous reasons the Y32 Leopard did not meet projected sales goals was that its most distinguishing feature was a lack of interior room. It had the distinction of being a
mid-size car with the space of a
subcompact (less than a
Sunny) due to its sloping roofline and rounded down trunk. The styling of the vehicle was more favorably regarded in Japan than it was in the USA. All were built in
Tochigi, Tochigi,
Japan. Over its lifetime, approximately 70,000 were sold in the United States (more than 20,000 per year for 1993 and 1994; 17,899 in 1995; 7,564 in 1996; and 4,594 in 1997) and less than 8,000 were sold in Japan. Information for this section of the article was translated from Leopard J Ferie.com == Fourth generation (Y33; 1996–2000)==