GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – MARCH 16: The Nissan GTR at the Geneva International Motorshow 2019. Nissan placed a special “Yokohama edition” GTR on show, complete with Yokohama Livery down the side. The GTR has been in production for 11 years, with no real
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“I am just the GT-R lead conductor for the orchestra. The company will show me the members of the orchestra. They need to decide who will play the violin and who will play the trumpet.” That’s how Nissan GT-R chief product specialist Hiroshi Tamura eloquently described his predicament to Australia’s Motoring about developing the next generation Nissan sports car. In other words, his hands are tied and he’s waiting for a company committee to decide on what development direction to take. As to when he thinks his team will get the green light to start on the R36, well, for now, it’s delayed indefinitely.
Tamura seemed pretty understanding of the situation, however, and defended the already 12-year-old R35 GT-R saying, “We are still just at 12 years. This body construction I want to keep for as long as possible,” and went on to say, “Yes, R35 is long [in terms of age]. But for the model year 2017, it is almost a new body shape. The body is technology.” And if you think Tamura is trying to downplay the R35’s age, keep in mind Nissan essentially used the same tech in the GT-R across three generations from 1989-2002 in the R32, R33 and R34 Skyline GT-Rs. All icons in their own right, it was the refinement and body style which changed over the years, not the car’s core architecture.
So the delay doesn’t stem from the chassis itself, but the engine or power plant choice. That’s what the Nissan powers that be are debating, and rightfully so. Not only is Nissan battling bigger problems from within, but does the next-generation GT-R become the first of its name to be a hybrid or fully electric? The whole automotive industry is in a state of flux and Nissan doesn’t want to make a decision that’ll catch it off guard while its competitors take off into the distance where innovation and performance are concerned.
There’s a reason the previous GT-R technology lasted as long as it did and why the R35’s base architecture seems long in the tooth: If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. The current GT-R’s technology, despite being 12 years old, can still keep its “more modern” competitors honest on the race track. In 2017, the GT-R received a cosmetic redesign with a few tweaks underneath for improvement, but otherwise, not much else was needed. It’s clear Nissan wants to keep alive the tradition of each new generation GT-R being so ahead of the curve, the standard automotive model life cycle of seven or so years isn’t applicable.
The question still remains, when will we see the next-generation Nissan GT-R? Tamura, reassuringly told Motoring, “imagining for a next-generation [car] is already in a chat,” and they are “talking about the solutions.” However, as with any big company committee, when exactly the official go-ahead comes down from above is anybody’s guess.
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