Nissan postpones next GT-R until 2018

When the gob-smacking Nissan 2020 Vision Gran Turismo concept was revealed at the Tokyo motor show, it was widely touted as offering design hints to the Japanese brand's next-generation GT-R supercar that had been expected in 2017.

After all, the current GT-R's gestation period dates back to the first concept that previewed it in 2001 – four years before the GT-R Proto follow-up concept emerged in 2005, six years before the production version debuted at the 2007 Tokyo show and eight years before it went on sale Down Under in 2009.

The Gran Turismo concept was created by a team of young designers at Nissan Design Europe in London with input from an advanced engineering team based at Nissan Technical Centre in Atsugi, Japan.

"As a result, NISSAN CONCEPT 2020 Vision Gran Turismo gives hints as to how a supercar of the future might look," said the company last month.

It all looked too obvious, however. The virtual PlayStation-bound concept, brought to life for the show, was a radical combination of sharp edges and contours that looked as improbable as a production car as any concept car we have seen recently.

Indeed, Nissan executives tried their best to quell expectation that this concept was hiding the next GT-R, pointed to the bonnet and saying: “Check that bonnet out. Do you think you could get a twin-turbo V6 engine under that short, low tapering bonnet? No way. It’s just a virtual race car.”

Now, however, our sources insist elements of the 2020 VGT concept will indeed find their way onto the next-generation GT-R and, although it is significantly toned down, this artist’s impression shows definitive design references to the outlandish virtual concept car.

As we reported earlier this year, Nissan has initially planned to launch its next GT-R in 2017, but new information just to hand strongly suggests the new car will now be delayed.

Production of the current GT-R will be temporarily halted this month (November) before restarting in mid-2016 to meet more stringent US crash regulations.

Our sources say that in order to engineer more body rigidity into the GT-R, Nissan will postpone production of the supercar for up to six months to reinforce the roof and certain body panels, while tweaking “some interior trim” and body panels as well.

All of this has delayed development of the next GT-R, which our sources say is now slated for production in 2018, by which time the existing R35 GT-R will be more than a decade old.

Powered by a detuned hybrid powertrain from the GT-R LM NISMO racer that competed in this year’s Le Mans 24-hour, it will combine an electrically assisted 3.0-litre turbo V6 to deliver more power and 30 per cent lower fuel consumption.

The latest GT-R's 3.8-litre twin-turbo V6 makes 404kW/628Nm, while the current 441kW/650Nm GT-R NISMO lowers the R35's claimed 0-100km/h acceleration time to about 2.5 seconds and set a new Nurburgring lap time of just 7:08.679 – 30 seconds better than the 2007 GT-R (7:38) and just 11 seconds slower than Porsche's 918 Spyder plug-in hybrid (6:57).

Nissan says that makes the NISMO GT-R the fastest 'volume production car' to lap the Nurburgring, since the 918 is a limited-edition model, as is McLaren's upcoming P1 GTR, which also has the target of a sub-seven-minute Nurburgring lap.

Image supplied: Best Car