The Silvia or S-chassis series of cars are Nissan's budget rear wheel drive (RWD), front mounted engine sports coupes on the Nissan S platform. Generally powered by a 1.8 L or 2.0 L straight-4 motor, the S-series chassis underpins a number of different cars, each generation being an evolution of the last.

Prior to the now very popular 240SX found in the United States (S13 180SX,S14 Silvia in Japan) which was produced after 1988, there were more Silvias. In the US they were called the 200SX, Australia the Gazelle, Finland and Norway they were called the 180ZX, and in Japan they were called the Silvia. The S10 was the first under the S chassis code, it was relatively boxy, but was state of the art for its day. The S11 was next. This Silvia was one on its own because it featured a rotary engine, designed and built by Nissan. This engine however was fairly unreliable, and never made it to full production. Next in the series is the S110. Cosmetically the same as the S11 it featured a piston engine to allow Nissan (Datsun at the time) to make up for the rotary failure. The S12 featured many parts off of the Nissan Z platform. The S12 was produced from late 1983 to early 1989. The S12 also had many differnet engines depending on where you bought it. In the US the CA18ET, and the CA20E were offered from 1984-1986, and from 1986-1988 the CA18ET was replaced with the VG30E. In Canada the CA18ET, and the CA20E were offered throughout the whole production run, and the VG wasn't available. In Australia, Europe, and Japan quite a few differnet engines were available including the FJ20ET until 1986 (when it was replaced with the CA18DET) The CA20E was also available in these areas throughout the entire production. Both a notch, and a liftback were available. The liftback was available with any engine offered in the given area, but the notch was only available with the CA20E; unless you bought the RS-X version which came with the FJ20ET. The S13 Silvia was never officially exported from Japan, and Nissan used the 180SX (based on S13 Silvia but with fastback coupé styling and pop-up lights) as the basis for the export spec 200SX/240SX. In 1995, with the advent of the S14 Silvia, Nissan once again exported the Silvia as 200SX/240SX to key markets.

The model name varied between Japan (Silvia), Europe (200SX), Australia (Gazelle, 200SX) and the United States (240SX) Note that the 200SX name was also used in the United States on a different car, a 2-door variant of the Nissan Sentra.

The U.S. S14 (the car was sold in the US from 1995 until 1998) were powered by the KA24DE, a naturally aspirated, 2.4 L pickup truck engine often swapped by tuners for the SR20DET engine used elsewhere. The early 1990s Japanese S13s were powered by the CA18DET, but all S13s circa 1991 were powered by a SR20DET. All UK S14s received the SR20DET. Some tuners occasionally swap RB-series engines from the Nissan Skyline into their S-chassis, but this is a difficult and expensive process.

In Japan, Europe, and Australia, the S13/14/15 Silvia and S14/15 200SX used a coupe-type body style with a standard notchback trunk and exposed headlights on all models excecpt the S13 Silvia softtop convertible and the S15 Silvia Varietta (a non-turbocharged, Japanese-market, hardtop convertible). The Japanese/European/Australian model S14 Silvia/200SX and the US market S14 240SX had different front facias, but otherwise used the same body. The S15 Silvia/200SX came in coupe and aforementioned Varietta convertible models, with the Type R being naturally aspirated and the Type S models being turbocharged. The S-series chassis cars gained a reputation for being excellent vehicles to learn motorsports on, due to their manuverability and their quick (but not extreme)speed. In Japan, the S13 Silvia was also considered a "date car."

The S-series family's other claim to fame is that it is perhaps one of the top drift cars in the world, especially the S13 and S15 vehicles. The very limited Sil-Eighty (S13 Silvia front, S13 180SX rear) was produced in 1994 because of this reason. There were 400 officially produced by Nissan.

As of 2002, Nissan stopped producing the S-series with the S15-series Nissan Silvia being the final variant. No production plans are in place to bring this vehicle back.