Rumour Mill: New GT-R will be ?front-engined 2+2 hybrid?

maxtortheone

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Shiro Nakamura might be a diminutive chap in stature, but in car-drawing terms Nissan's Chief Creative Officer is a colossus.

TG caught up with Nakamura-san - fresh from winning the Grand Prix du Design award at the International Automobile Festival - at the London launch of Infiniti's revised Q70 exec saloon.

Of course we should have been complimenting him on the Q70's new LED lights and tweaked bootlid, but, um, we want to know about the new GT-R instead.

So we asked Nakamura-san if he'd seen any of the speculative renderings the internet has spewed out, all purporting to show how the new GT-R will absolutely definitely look.

"Yes, I've seen them," Shiro smiles. "Not one of them is close [to how the car will look]". But what about the Vision Gran Turismo (pictured above)? Any GT-R clues in that virtual concept car?

"Maybe some elements from the front and rear, but that is a mid-engined car. Mizuno-san [the GT-R's legendary father] says the GT-R will always be a front-engined 2+2-seater coupe."

So, no need to worry about a GT-R crossover or convertible, then? Nakamura-san grins and shakes his head. Phew. "It will be a hybrid," he confirms, "but not mid-engined."

And when might we see a new GT-R? "Not yet. 2018 at the earliest," is Shiro's reply. He says the current car, updated every year with revised styling, suspension and software updates, is still selling healthily, and the GT-R's team reckons there's yet more performance to squeeze from the current car.

Yup, more performance from a car that can run 2.8 seconds from 0-62mph and laps the Nurburgring in 7m8s. The mind does indeed boggle.

TG suggests a new feature to stop Olympic cyclists crashing might be useful. Shiro laughs, and cringes a little.

"Yes, I was there at the Festival of Speed [when Sir Chris Hoy punted a Nismo GT-R into the hay bales]. I heard the crash and thought ?argh!'. Then for the next two days, all they show on the big screen is the same shot of our GT-R crashing into the barrier. But at least the car was safe and strong..."

http://www.topgear.com/uk/car-news/nissan-gtr-hybrid-front-engined-awd-arrives-2018-2015-01-29
 
Those lights....
Wat8.jpg
 
That picture's from the GT video game.
 
The car will be 11 years old by the time it will get a replacement. Seems Nissan wants to recoup as much of its investment as possible. Only thing I wish they worked on besides jumping on the hybrid bandwagon is weight. The thing is heavy and needs a bit of a diet.
 
The car will be 11 years old by the time it will get a replacement. Seems Nissan wants to recoup as much of its investment as possible. Only thing I wish they worked on besides jumping on the hybrid bandwagon is weight. The thing is heavy and needs a bit of a diet.

Well, the pig-iron* is the only thing still keeping that price in regions where "normal people" may think about buying one ... throw some more exotic materials at the car and it will be up there with Lambos and stuff. Sure, saving more weight will aid performance - but will kill the cars original appeal.

* I know they don?t actually use pig-iron.
 
The "cheap" appeal is gone now, I think.
That could be said about the earlier generations, but AFAIK it more than doubled in price since it was introduced.
 
It is still cheap if you want to buy something "comparable". Porsches and Corvettes used to be cheaper too.

Well, yes, but the price difference used to be much bigger.
 
The "cheap" appeal is gone now, I think.
That could be said about the earlier generations, but AFAIK it more than doubled in price since it was introduced.

Indeed, the price in Germany starts at EUR 96,400.

I'm not saying it should be made from all carbon fibre, but more aluminium woudn't hurt.
 
The "cheap" appeal is gone now, I think.
That could be said about the earlier generations, but AFAIK it more than doubled in price since it was introduced.

what is it? the R35? or the R29?
 
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