Next Nissan GT-R to be 'fastest super sports car in the world'

Nissan is in the very early phases of designing and engineering an all-new platform for the next-generation GT-R — but has still to decide how much electrification the car’s powertrain will adopt.

Talking exclusively to Autocar UK at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, Nissan design boss Alfonso Albaisa said the car won’t take cues from the limited-run GT-R50 special edition on show this weekend, but “has to be its own special car”. He said it has to be “the fastest super sports car in the world” and retain a visual identity that's unique among cars of its kind.

Although he’s constantly reviewing sketches for the car, Albaisa said his team can’t begin serious work until decisions are made about the powertrain and the new platform is finalised.

“The challenge is on the engineer, to be honest,” he said. “We will do our jobs when the time comes to make the car something really special. But we’re not even close to that yet.”

That suggests the new GT-R is still several years from production readiness, meaning it’s likely to arrive early in the next decade.

Albaisa said that while Nissan was undecided on the powertrain, he admitted that electrification was likely, albeit not confirmed.

“Whether we go to a lot of electrification or none at all, we can achieve a lot power wise,” he said. “But we are definitely making a new ‘platform’ and our goal is clear: GT-R has to be the quickest car of its kind. It has to ‘own’ the track. And it has to play the advanced technology game; but that doesn’t mean it has to be electric.”

The electrified powertrain of Nissan’s stillborn hybrid LMP1 GT-R racing car, which was developed for the 2016 World Endurance Championship but never raced, could provide a glimpse of what’s to come. That car used a twin-turbocharged 3.0-litre V6 engine and hybrid electric system; Nissan pulled the plug on the project before the race.

If a similar system were used in the next GT-R, the boost of torque should ensure that, despite a loss of around 800cc in engine capacity compared with the current GT-R, the overall output could make it the most potent version of the super coupé family to have made production.

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The current car produces 562bhp in standard form, suggesting significantly more than 600bhp is possible in the next car.

“We simply have to reflect people’s dreams; and I think people dream that the next GT-R will be the hottest super sports car in the world,” said Albaisa.

He said that the next car would have a muscular character like the R35 in order to retain the GT-R “beast”, adding: “It’s an animal; it has to be imposing and excessive. Not in terms of its wings, but rather its visual mass, its presence and its audacity.

“It doesn’t care what every other supercar in the world is doing; it simply says: ‘I’m a GT-R, I’m a brick, catch me.’ It’s the world’s fastest brick, really. And when I review sketches for the new car, I say that a lot: “Less wing, more brick.'”

Additional reporting by Sam Sheehan