The R35 Nissan GT-R will not be lengthy for this world, however because it shuffles off its mortal coil it leaves us with a promise: the GT-R badge will stay on. Nissan has lengthy stated an R36 would come, however the New York Worldwide Auto Present supplied the primary few particulars concerning the upcoming automobile’s improvement. In keeping with Nissan North America’s chief planning officer, talking with The Drive, the next-generation hybrid-powered GT-R is simply three to 5 years away — and if Honda desires to let Nissan piggyback off of NSX improvement, the latter firm is prepared to play ball.
Nissan North America senior vice chairman and chief planning officer, Ponz Pandikuthira, informed The Drive that the R36 can be a hybrid — ideally a plug-in hybrid that may function to some extent on electrical energy alone, and ICE energy will come from a twin-turbo six-cylinder engine. He famous the VR35 V6 within the new Armada, which shares its VR collection with the R35’s VR38 mill, and the entire setup may benefit from Nissan’s foray into solid-state batteries. Pandikuthira notably emphasised the GT-R’s day by day usability as some extent in direction of hybridization, making certain the automobile remained usable to “drive your children to high school” or “go to the grocery retailer.”
However what about Acura?
That makes Pandikuthira’s different remarks, about the potential of working with Honda on the R36, sound notably odd. The second-generation NSX’s much-maligned improvement time may theoretically match inside Nissan’s three-to-five-year timeline, if the 2 corporations began working collectively proper this very second, however the two fashions come from very completely different walks of life. Pandikuthira himself appeared to acknowledge the oddity of the suggestion when chatting with The Drive:
“Can we do a next-generation NSX and GT-R off the identical platform, make the NSX genuine to what it stands for and make a GT-R genuine to what it stands for? So they aren’t clones?” Pandikuthira requested rhetorically. “Are you able to co-develop two automobiles like that? I believe we will.”
“The authenticity of this issues,” Pandikuthira continued. “An Acura NSX had a really completely different origin of what that automobile was. Tremendous light-weight, all aluminum.” The VP described the supercars’ variations because the NSX being “tremendous exact, light-weight, aerospace execution, whereas a GT-R is a brute, however a complicated brute.”
It is actually potential for one platform to assist each four-seat front-engine and two-seat mid-engine designs, notably with the flexibility of contemporary modular platforms, however the NSX and GT-R would seemingly find yourself on one thing bespoke — automobiles just like the second-gen NSX and the Porsche 718 and 911 all run on distinctive platforms. The outgoing GT-R, just like the Toyobaru twins, runs on a modified model of an current platform: Nissan’s FM for the previous, Subaru’s SGP for the latter. Getting these divergent designs, with divergent objectives and divergent approaches, onto a single platform wouldn’t be a trivial process. Nor would it not be a fast one, with that three-to-five-year deadline looming. Add that to Honda’s indecision about whether or not to make the third-generation NSX a full EV, and also you begin ending up with plenty of elements that do not fairly mesh into one ultimate dish.
As of proper now, it isn’t clear the place Nissan actually is in improvement of the R36. Some degree of improvement is actually occurring behind closed doorways, to have a deadline so quick approaching, however issues appear to be early sufficient within the course of that roping one other producer — one with a product so completely different — into the equation continues to be not solely potential, however fascinating. Possibly the 2 have been engaged on such a plan for months, or perhaps Pandikuthira’s feedback are extra aspiration than chilly arduous reality. Both means, we win — the GT-R is coming again.
