The R35 Nissan GT-R has been with us for eight years now, but despite a string of evolutionary updates over the years that upped the performance (output has risen from 480 hp at launch to 550 hp this year) and handling capabilities of the Godzilla, Nissan still believes that there’s life left in the ol’ dinosaur, according to Australian portal CarAdvice.
Nissan’s director of design Shiro Nakamura told the press at the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans that while it is unlikely to expect the current GT-R to be any faster, there are still improvements to be gained in terms of styling or handling.
“[Before a new GT-R arrives] we still want to improve [the] current GT-R because it has more potential to be better. I think it’s an improvement. You will see. Even the design wise, we have some minor change coming very soon. You will see very shortly.
“Performance is already very good – 0-100km/h in 2.7 seconds. So it might be impossible to get higher speed wise but maybe more better handling and that kind of thing,” he said.
Meanwhile, Nakamura said that the next GT-R is still “more than two years away,” and while it will take inspiration from the radical front-wheel drive hybrid GT-R LM Nismo Le Mans racer, it will be more of an evolution of the current car, rather than a revolution.
“Nissan GT-R LM Nismo is not a production car but it is inspired by GT-R and also to give us inspiration for future GT-R,” he added. “We want to be more challenging, we want to be more innovative, just not following what other people do. Therefore this is a racing car, but in the spirit of this one, it’s very similar to what we want to do for the production [car].”
Nakamura was also mum about the possibility of an electric or hybrid powertrain for the next generation, saying only that the company was experimenting with them. “To be honest, we have not yet finalised next generation of GT-R,” he said. “But electrification is one of the aspects – so nothing confirmed.”
