Nissan has filed a trademark application for the ‘R-Hybrid’ badge, and it could be used for the next-gen Nissan GT-R, says Car and Driver. The US publication noticed that the standalone letter ‘R’ is in exactly the same typeface as that used on the legendary rear-wheel drive sports car’s boot lid badge.
C&D adds that the SE-R badge, seen on hot versions of the Sentra and Altima in the US, uses a different font for its ‘R,’ ruling out a new Sentra SE-R or Altima SE-R as possible recipients of this new emblem. Indeed, we can’t think of any other Nissan model that uses the same typeface as the ‘R’ in ‘GT-R.’
Therefore, unless Nissan is planning a new hybrid model (a wheeled reply to the recently-revealed Toyota Yaris Hybrid-R concept, or a future production version of that concept, perhaps?), this suggests that the next-gen Nissan GT-R – due in 2016 – could be a hybrid, which is neither shocking, impossible nor unlikely.
After all, reports have speculated that the future successor to the Toyota Supra – the Nissan GT-R’s old adversary – is set to be a hybrid. So if a new Supra concept is slated to appear at this year’s Tokyo motor show, will we see the ‘R-Hybrid’ badge on a new Nissan GT-R concept there?
Sigh, if only we had Holmes’ powers of deduction.
