The R35 Nissan GT-R has been dying a very slow death. The last we heard of it, the 15-year-old model has just been discontinued in the UK and Europe. But there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, because Nissan’s performance arm, Nismo, has just confirmed the existence of a new flagship model, and it’ll be electrified.
Speaking to Autocar UK, Nismo CEO Takao Katagiri confirmed that a new sports car is currently being developed, and will be available as a “combination” of hybrid and EV models.
“[There] is a very, very important vision [in Europe] for Nissan. It’s around the heart of this [new car],” said Katagiri. “This region [the UK] is very, very special for us, especially [for] performance cars. So one thing I can say is please wait. We are going to introduce a very exciting model to the UK market under the Nismo brand.”
Although the comment was specifically for the UK due to the publication’s locale, Katagiri did reveal that the car will also be sold in the Americas as well as Europe, after its official launch in its home country Japan.
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An exact timeline for the car’s launch isn’t known yet, but Katagiri did hint that it’ll happen sometime this decade. If we had to guess, though, we’ll most likely be getting the hybrid version first, before the EV sometime in the future.
Nissan’s executives had previously told the publication that a performance EV would require solid-state batteries – a technology that is still years away from maturity. Market researchers estimate that a consumer-ready solid-state battery pack is expected to reach the market in 2026, so we can expect it being put into production cars probably some time in 2028.
All that remains to be seen now, then, is if this electrified flagship sports car will actually be the next-generation Nissan GT-R, or will it go by some other name. Previous rumours from 2021 said that the next-gen model will indeed be electrified, so there’s certainly hope. But the same rumour also said it’ll be a 2023 model…
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