By SEMA Staff
 Carlos Ghosn, Nissan CEO, takes an interest in a Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 car. |
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Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. has announced that Nismo—its global performance road car and motorsport arm—is developing a new, higher-powered road version of the Nissan GT-R.
The GT-R Nismo will be the third Nismo-badged model to emerge from Nissan’s performance-orientated brand as part of a strategy to add a range of performance models across the Nissan range.
Nismo, whose new global headquarters near Yokohama, Japan, was officially opened this week, already has experience in developing and preparing the Nissan GT-R for the racetrack. That expertise will go into creating GT-R Nismo.
“It would be unthinkable for us to develop a range of Nismo road cars without including the GT-R,” said Nissan CEO, Carlos Ghosn. “The standard road car is a global supercar and the GT-R’s performance on track reflects the passion and talents of the Nismo team.”
Millions of gamers around the world are already familiar with the GT-R, thanks to Sony’s Gran Turismo driving simulation series and to motorsport fans with the Skyline enjoying success on track since 1969.
The Nismo team’s intimate knowledge comes from their involvement in racing the GT-R and is a good precursor to the development of the new Nismo road car, which will be based on the ’13 GT-R.
“We know that enthusiasts around the world will be itching to know more about the forthcoming GT-R Nismo,” said Shoichi Miyatani, president of Nismo. “It’s too preliminary to share any details yet, but fans can be certain we’ll be applying all of our motorsport expertise to creating a GT-R Nismo worthy of the name.”
The standard ’13 Nissan GT-R has just received evolutionary design and engineering enhancements based around feedback from competing in last year’s 24-Hours Nürburgring and its success in Super GT and Global GT series.
As a result, the vehicle's overall performance has been dramatically increased, high-speed stability improved and ride quality vastly more refined.
In development now, the new GT-R Nismo will sit at the top of the new Nissan Nismo range of performance vehicles and be available alongside the standard model in Nissan’s specialized GT-R dealerships next year.
Technical specifications and performance figures will be released closer to launch.