Rumors regarding the next-generation Nissan GT-R started surfacing late last month, perhaps hinting that there wouldn’t be a successor to the popular sports car. The GT-R’s chief engineer debunked those rumors though, and it appears that the automaker is planning for the next GT-R to debut in 2018.
What’s in a name? Out in Japan, the name ‘Fairlady’ goes a long way back in a storied sports car history; it belonged to the Datsun Fairlady which eventually became the Z models of today.
At least year’s Tokyo Motor Show, Nismo teased things to come with a Juke Nismo Concept model, and an electric Leaf Nismo model. It appears the performance division of Nissan is going full speed ahead with new Nismo performance models, including more extreme RS versions.
Nissan‘s GT-R was touted as a supercar killer for half the price, but it looks like the redesign of the car has yet to be approved by Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn.
A source close to the project let slip to Inside Line that development of the next gen GT-R hasn’t even been started yet, because the project has yet to be given the go ahead. Some subtle changes have been given to the GT-R over its five year run, but nothing that can be considered major.
Rumors have already been swirling around the redesign, saying that the new GT-R could possibly be a hybrid, and have over 600 hp. Yet, if what Inside Line says is true, no development has even started on the car yet.
Ghosn’s latest pet project was the all-electric Nissan Leaf, which is on the other end of the spectrum compared to the GT-R, possibly marking a new direction for the company. Chief GT-R engineer Kazutoshi Mizuno also recently retired, another factor that weighs against bringing the GT-R back to life in a new form.
[Source: Inside Line]
After collaborating with NASA on the “zero-gravity” seats in the Altima, Nissan is getting advice once again for future designs, this time from the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels flight demonstration squadron.
The Nissan GT-R experience is offered to buyers and prospective buyers of the brands super car, and this month the cars and drivers took to the track in Monticello, New York.
Three time Olympic Gold Medal sprinter Usain Bolt and Nissan Motor Co. have joined forces for a new marketing campaign. Dubbed “WHAT IF” the campaign is designed to tantalize the senses, highlighting Nissan’s vehicles and technologies designed to “excite,” such as the GT-R supercar.
A wicked crash between a Nissan GT-R and a BYD E6 electric taxi in China last Sunday is lighting concern about EV fires anew.
It’s common practice for regional auto journalist associations to gather, usually once a year, and vote on which cars they like most.
Update: The price referred to in this story does not reflect American pricing. We now know that the Juke-R will cost around $590,000 in U.S. dollars.
In a surprise move, Nissan announced that it will offer production versions of its insane Juke-R concept though only on a per-order basis and in a limited supply.
What happens when you scoop a Nissan Juke’s guts out with a mellon baller and replace them with pure testosterone? In case you forgot, it’s the Juke-R.
Following in the footsteps of the likes of the AMG driving academy and Ferrari’s winter driving school, Nissan now offers the GT-R experience to owners of the supercar who want the chance to learn from driving professionals on a proper race track.
Last February, the 2013 Nissan GT-R Experience kicked off by inviting existing owners of the 2012 Nissan GT-R to get some real life track experience in their cars; best of all, it’s there’s no added cost (excluding the near $100,000 you will pay for the car). Three different tracks were chosen to host the GT-R Experience based on where the most GT-R’s have sold in the U.S. Laguna Seca in California, Monticello Motor Club in New York and Palm Beach Raceway were chosen.
The GT-R experience is organized by the Skip Barber racing school and aims to teach car control while demonstrating the vehicle’s true track capability. Driving exercises include side by side drag racing to show off the GT-R’s launch control, an autocross competiton, on track instruction and a slalom.
Last month we reported the top 10 cars with the highest percentage of female owners, and now we have a less-than-surprising list of top 10 cars with the highest percentage of male buyers. The list is courtesy InsideLine with the data provided by Polk and reflects total purchases made last year in 2011.
Coming in at number 10 with 86.9 percent of its owners being male is the Chevrolet Corvette. Arguably the most iconic sports car in American history, it’s no surprise that the vast majority of them are owned and driven by men. In fact, there are few surprises on this list considering most of the vehicles are dream cars of teenage boys, or those suffering a mid-life crisis.
Nissan is out to prove a point on just how formidable the Club Track Edition GT-R is. This year, the Japanese automaker will bring a production version of the Club Track Edition GT-R to compete in the 24 hours at Nürburgring endurance race.
Nissan said that competing in the 24 Hours of Nürburgring with a factory model GT-R will allow them to collect data to help improve the GT-R over the next five years. We’re sure that’s part of the reason, the other is clearly to prove how great the GT-R is in factory form.
Now skeptics will probably say it’s not a production model vehicle if Nissan so much as swaps its tires, but so long as they don’t touch the powerplant, suspension, or brakes with any modifications – it’s factory in our eyes. But no doubt Nissan is looking to play a little bit in the Europeans’ backyard, potentially trumping modified Porsches, BMWs, and Mercedes-Benz’s in a GT-R model that rolls off the dealership showroom floor.
Watch the video below of the Nissan team readying the GT-R for the race.
The Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 isn’t a cheap ride. Priced around $388,000, the race-ready Godzilla is a joint project between NISMO and JR Motorsports and comes with a detuned 3.8L V6 with 523 hp to meet GT3 regulations.
What better way to see what the amazing car sounds and looks like than through a video? Instead of the iconic blue shade previously shown when the initial announcement was made, JRM brought out a menacing gloss black model out for testing and let the cameras roll. Drop in some epic, over-the-top soundtrack and you’ve got yourself a video fitting for such a mean race car.
Watch the video below:
Recently, Nissan and NISMO announced its 2012 global motorsports program along with a video highlighting the joint companies past years of success.
For the 2012 season, the Japanese automaker will make their presence known worldwide in racing, competing in both the GT300 and GT500 classes in Super GT, in the European Le Mans Series, continue their support for the GT Academy program and endorse several series in North America including the Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge.
Four GT-Rs in total will compete in the Super GT GT500 class, fielded by MOLA, NISMO, Team Impul, and Kondo Racing. But more interesting is the GT-R competing in the GT300 class, where vehicles are limited to just 300-hp and will be fielding the likes of the Toyota Prius, Honda CR-Z, and Subaru BR-Z this year. And while the GT500 GT-R is powered by a V8, the GT300 GT-R will be more like the road vehicle but restricted down to 300-hp.
In America, Nissan will have their 370Z competing in the GS Class of the Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Series; while the Altima Coupe will be seen in the ST Class. In the Pirelli World Challenge, a GT-R will be driven by Mike Skeen in the GT Class, while Rick Bushey, Greg Shaffer, and Brian Kleeman will be competing in the GTS Class behind the wheel of a 370Z.
We will also see the Nissan Titan and the Nissan Frontier competing in the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series and the Off-Road Championship Series.
And as we mentioned previously, the GT-R will be competing in the Australian V8 Supercars Championship.
Watch the promotional video on the upcoming Nissan Motorsports season after the break.
Nissan Middle East is offering a special edition VVIP GT-R at an extravagant $266,000 (Dh977,000) price. That means this GT-R is more than double the normal MSRP, and with it you get some gaudy options including 24-karat gold trim.
Something like this probably wouldn’t ever fly in the American market, but it’s a different story in the Middle East. Apparently someone is willing eat the price for a glitzy Godzilla car. The GT-R VVIP features a specially-tuned Bose stereo system, 24-karat gold-plated side panels, front grille, and VVIP badges, and German leather that has been trimmed with a Japanese influence.
You might assume that the added cost comes with performance upgrades, but you would be wrong. The 3.8L twin-turbo engine will remain untouched with 550 horsepower, but something tells us the target market for the VVIP model aren’t performance-minded folks. There are 12 different interior color combinations available, quite a few more than what is offered in dealer showrooms.
Optional carbon ceramic brakes and titanium mufflers are included in the aforementioned price tag. Remove those options that are worth around $40,000 (Dh150,000) and you’re still sitting in one flashy performance car.
[Source: Jalopnik]
There’s no denying just how excellent a platform the Nissan GT-R is. It appears that the head of advanced planning at Infiniti, Francois Bancon, shares the same sentiments about the GT-R. “It’s too good a platform to use only on one model,” he told CAR magazine.
Infiniti is definitely planning a supercar, according to Bancon, with three or four proposals being considered, one of which is based on the 542-hp GT-R platform. But using the GT-R isn’t so cut and dry for a luxury brand like Infiniti. Even if it does wish to achieve supercar status, the brand still has a reputation of luxurious comfort to live up to.
“Our Infiniti model would have to be softer than the GT-R and that’s extremely difficult to do. You can’t easily tweak the GT-R to deliver the sophisticated, more refined performance we would need on an Infiniti. We have three or four proposals we are looking at right now. Once we have launched the new smaller Infiniti (coming in 2015), the time would be right to have a flagship,” Bancon said in the interview.
This report comes at a rather interesting time, since Infiniti recently announced its Emerg-E plug-in hybrid which will sport a mid-engine powertrain configuration (throwing out the possible use of the GT-R’s platform) and is supposed to be their new flagship performance vehicle. We suppose that the GT-R-based supercar could just be way down the road on Infiniti’s roadmap, but either way… we hope more exciting things are on the horizon from the Japanese automaker.
[Source: CAR]
If you’re a fan of car porn (and really, who isn’t), you have to feast your eyes on the new showcase video for the Nissan GT-R.
Brought to you by motor sports film company Clash Production, this flashy video will keep you mesmerized for 2:12… which turns out, is not nearly long enough. Shot against the backdrop of Dubai, we’re treated to the beauty and art that the Nissan GT-R can inspire.
Watch the video after the jump – it’s just over 2 minutes long. But be warned… this video is so cool you may feel the urge to light up a cigarette after it’s done.
[Source: Youtube Via Crank and Piston]
Nissan Motorsports International (NISMO) has made the release of the GT3-spec GT-R official, pricing it at around $388,000 based on today’s conversion rates.
A joint project between NISMO and JR Motorsports (JRM), the Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 packs a 3.8L V6, twin-turbo powerplant that is seen in the factory production model, but pumps out 523-hp. It may sound odd that it has slightly less horsepower than the factory 2013 GT-R with 545-hp, but it’s probably been tuned to GT3 regulations.
What you do get, however, is a GT-R packed with fully adjustable suspension, a gutted-out interior with a full roll cage, extra cooling ducts and an aggressive aero package. Power on the GT3 GT-R will be delivered through a six-speed, semi-automatic paddle-shift system. Those ordering the race-ready GT-R will receive support from NISMO if you’re in Japan, Asia, North or South America and Oceania, while JRM will support Europe, Russia and the Middle East.
Love Nissan GT-Rs? Then you most certainly would love the Tokyo Auto Salon. Featuring the latest tuning trends and most amazing race cars, much of the content on the show floor was GT-R related this year – although to be honest, the show is GT-R heavy every year.
On display were plenty of modified GT-Rs from tuners like Kansai Service, JUN and even Tommy Kaira. And let’s not forget the race car content, with the outrageous Kondo Advan GT-R GT500 race car, as well as the Motul Autech GT-R (above), which won five of the eight races in Japan’s Super GT series last year.
Check out all the GT-R hardware from this year’s TAS below:
Nissan Europe and JRM Racing will be campaigning this fantastic looking GT-R NISMO GT3 at the upcoming Dubai 24 Hours race. As an official entry for Nissan Europe, the GT-R will be driven by four of Nissan’s championship drivers in 2011.
Almost a dream team if you will, the four drivers campaigning this race car in Dubai are Michael Krumm from Germany, Alex Buncombe from UK, Tom Kimber-Smith from UK and Franck Mailleux from France. Krumm was the FIA GT1 World Champion driving a GT-R GT1 race car last year, while Buncombe was the Blancpain Endurace Series GT4 champion while running a Nissan 370Z. Kimber-Smith took victory at the Le Mans Series and is the LMP2 champion while Mailleux had success at the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup and is the LMP2 champion.
Over the last six months, JRM has been rigorously testing and developing the GT-R NISMO GT3 race car, which is powered by a 3.8L twin-turbo V6 with 500-hp and 479 lb-ft of torque. Transmission in the GT-R is a Hewland six-speed sequential. It’ll be racing on lightweight 18-inch Rays center-locked, aluminum forged wheels and sports a set of vicious Brembo brakes. The majority of the body components are constructed from carbon composite and plenty of aerodynamic tweaks were done.
Nissan‘s Juke-R might just be one of the greatest project cars in all of automotive history, and the monster has finally hit the track at Silverstone with a video to prove it. The GTR-powered crossover did some laps out in England for journalists and it proves that the Juke-R is a formidable piece of machinery.
Despite the rain in the footage, it’s perfectly clear that the Juke-R can hold its own and the project can be deemed as successful. The crossover’s completely capable of accelerating, braking, turning and performing the duties of any track car with ease. And while most people are still anti-Juke based on its styling, there’s no denying you wouldn’t think twice about owning this Juke-R.
Check out the video below:
