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Carsales Staff21 Sept 2020
NEWS

New Nissan GT-R confirmed

But whether the next Godzilla is hybrid or all-electric is yet to be decided

There will be an all-new R36 Nissan GT-R and all powertrain options continue to be explored for the next-generation Japanese supercar.

That’s the word from Nissan’s senior vice-president of global product planning Ivan Espinosa, who confirmed to Australian media that all technologies are being investigated to ensure the car-maker’s Porsche 911 rival remains one of the quickest cars available.

The father of the current Nissan GT-R, chief product specialist for GT-R and NISMO Hiroshi Tamura, told carsales in August 2019 that a replacement for the R35 had yet to be signed off by the board, which was also examining its powertrain choices.

Now, speaking after the reveal of the Nissan Z Proto last week, Nissan’s chief product planner confirmed there will indeed be an R36 GT-R but he wouldn’t reveal when it will be released or what kind of electrification it will bring.

“I cannot tell you too much on the GT-R,” said Espinosa.

“We are thinking what we should do with the GT-R. We’re always thinking.

“This car together with the Z and Patrol are perhaps the three most iconic and brand representative nameplates that we have as a company, that have a deep history.

“These are nameplates that we are consistently looking at how, when, what we should do with them.”

Asked whether the next Nissan GT-R would be based on a development of the current GT-R platform and if it will be electrified, Espinosa said everything was on the table but whatever the mechanical make-up, it will remain competitive.

“At this moment it’s very open. Many things can happen,” he said.

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“We are exploring different things and we will come back to you guys when we are ready to tell you what we have chosen to be for the next GT-R.

“Now, what will be the role of the next GT-R is to again be a very credible performance machine – the way the current GT-R is.

“Even after some years in the market it is still very credible – still super-fast, super-great car to drive – and we will remain true to that expectation.”

Some reports suggest Nissan is exploring a petrol-electric hybrid drivetrain for the new GT-R, incorporating a Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) like that seen on some of the car-maker’s Le Mans race cars.

Espinosa wouldn’t rule out hybrid or battery-electric powertrains for the new GT-R, but suggested the latter technology was not ‘mature’ enough, likely in terms of battery weight and range.

“Everything is up there,” he said. “Everything is open. It’s all about understanding what do you want to deliver to the customer. And there are solutions you can choose because there are plenty of options.

“The maturity of the technology is the other one [variable to consider]. So we need to cope with the pace of the maturity of technology, customer expectation and the experience we want to give.”

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Hybrid first, EV later

Espinosa’s latest comments dovetail with what he told us in July, when he suggested the next R36 GT-R would likely be a hybrid, but that full EV power would have to wait until the subsequent R37 model.

“The technology of EV is very advanced, but not at a level in which you can deliver the performance expected of a sports car,” he told carsales during an interview after the global launch of the all-new Nissan Ariya electric SUV.

The Ariya EV generates a healthy 290kW of power and 600Nm of torque, and employs a development of the R35 GT-R’s ATTESA all-wheel drive system, now called e-4ORCE, which controls the torque outputs of the Ariya’s front and rear motor.

Those motors already generate almost as much torque – but not power – as the current R35 GT-R, which is powered by a 419kW/632Nm 3.8-litre twin-turbo V6 delivering up to 441kW/652Nm in the NISMO version.

Furthermore, the battery-electric Ariya is based on an all-new dedicated EV platform architecture that Espinosa says is scalable and will be adapted for many more upcoming Nissan EVs.

But Espinosa warned that battery size, weight and packaging issues remain unsolved for use as an exclusive power source in high-performance supercars.

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“The platform is quite flexible. I think the point is not about the platform, but again coming to the battery. There are two things about batteries still in the EV space, one is the size,” he said.

“We have a battery in the floor today but it’s still space you need to allocate for the battery. So when you go with the conventional sports car which you expect to have a very low drive, the packaging becomes a very challenging thing.

“And the other is the weight. We are capable of tuning and delivering very exciting performance in Ariya, with the power we’re getting from the electric drivetrain, but still the weight is an element that cannot reach the level you would expect for a very dedicated and high-performance sports car.”

Nissan’s product strategy boss also stated that “…the fact you need to deliver very consistent power to the car [lap after lap on the racetrack]” is proving difficult, despite its electric motorsport endeavours.

“So that technology is available and we’re learning a lot from our Formula E team, but it’s not yet at a level to put into such a car,” he said.

Some reports suggest the next GT-R could emerge as soon as 2023 (and that it will look like the Nissan Concept 2020 Vision Gran Turismo pictured here), but Espinosa wouldn’t be drawn on timing for the R36 – let alone the R37.

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Last year Tamura-san told carsales he hoped the existing R35 GT-R could survive for 20 years, which would take the current model – which remains one of the quickest supercars available today – to around 2027.

Nissan is unlikely to wait that long, however, so expect the first electrified Nissan GT-R to ride on a development of the current platform within a few years, powered by a turbo-petrol electric hybrid set-up like the Honda NSX.

A fully electric Nissan GT-R, however, could be at least a decade away, judging by comments from Nissan’s head of EV strategy, Asaka Hoshino.

“At this moment our priority is not an EV sports car,” he told carsales in July.

“Next is an SUV [Ariya], then maybe after that some other small cars or sedans, and then some other EVs, and then the sports car,” he said.

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Written byCarsales Staff
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