A Nissan 370Z successor is coming, and here’s our first physical indication of the next-gen sports car in early testing phases. The photos of the car in question here are nothing special. At first glance, everything appears completely in order. However, a closer look at the front end hints that this could be a powertrain mule for the 370’s replacement.

A number of strange holes can be seen in the front bumper and fog light areas. These may be in place to better simulate cooling and airflow to whatever powertrain is hiding under the hood. Nissan running this car at the Nurburgring indicates to us that the car is most likely a powertrain mule of sorts. Everything else about it just looks like a regular 370Z, right down to the exhaust outlets in the rear.

Just a week ago, Autocar released a report that indicated Nissan is currently working on the next-gen Z car. Ivan Espinosa told them the 370Z and GT-R are “at the heart of Nissan and we are actively looking at and working on them.” He also said that we “can expect something soon.” There’s a whole lot left to the imagination, but it gives away that a next-gen Z is coming.

We can’t say this car is certainly a mule for the upcoming sports car, but our best guess says it is. One logical assumption for a powertrain would be the 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6 from the Infiniti Q50 and Q60. That’ll provide plenty of power and we have a feeling that Nissan can extract even more than the 400 horsepower made in the Red Sport versions of those Infinitis. As for when we’ll see a new Z sports car, that’s still up for debate. Stay tuned to this one.