Will the GTR ever change?
If you have been observing the GTR for the last year or two you have probably been a little curious as to the direction Nissan plans on going. I for one am absolutely confused with lack of information they have been able to provide the last couple years and then they hit us with the 2020 GTR which is the same as any GTR 2017 and above. I do understand that Nissan is struggling right now as a company, from the Carlos Ghosn Financial Misconduct in Japan, Sales have tanked, and jobs cuts across the board. They are struggling but GT-R Boss Hiroshi Tamura is trying to push to get this next generation started!
In an interview with Australias Motoring, they said, "Talking technology, Tamura says he is waiting for board-level choices on the powerplant for the next GT-R. He is now 58 and can see compulsory retirement coming at 60, but wants to drive the change through to the next generation. I have to wait. I am just the GT-R lead conductor for the orchestra. The company will show me the members of the orchestra. They need to decide who will play the violin and who will play the trumpet.”
Now I had no clue it was mandatory to retire at age 60 so that's interesting. Second, I love how excited he is to get the project started but OF COURSE, upper management doesn't understand the vision and I hope they get their stuff together because the GTR is going to get left in the dust soon. Later in the interview, Hiroshi Tamura said, He believes the current GT-R program could easily run for 20 years without major changes to the mechanical package for the twin-turbo V6-powered all-wheel-drive supercar and points out that the existing R35 is only coming up for its 12th birthday. We are still just at 12 years. This body construction I want to keep for as long as possible. But as Tamura points out, Godzilla was basically unchanged under the skin through the R32, R33 and R34 generations over 14 years, while the latest R35 was effectively renewed as recently as 2017. Yes, R35 is long [in terms of age]. But for the model year 2017, it is almost a new body shape. The body is technology.” I personally could not wait for another 12 years of the same stuff. Unless something incredible happened I just don't see it.
What are your thoughts on extending the life of the current GTR another 12 years...?
Ask Jeevz Out!
Sources
https://jalopnik.com/folks-the-nissan-gt-r-might-be-here-for-a-while-1837454272
https://www.autoblog.com/2016/04/01/life-with-nissan-gtr-everyday-supercar/