With Nissan adding to the story of the 2023 Z at the ongoing 2022 Tokyo Auto Salon, we can’t help but wonder what comes next in the world of fast Nissans—no, not the inevitable spicier Zs, or even the future R36 GT-R, whose existence has been confirmed, but the also-unavoidable electric performance future of the brand. How about an EV supercar slotted “above” Godzilla (we may be talking about EVs vs. ICE/hybris here), which builds on the company’s half a century of R-branded racing tradition? Boy, this rendering is going places!
Simply dubbed Nissan R 2027, the digital teardrop-shaped creation, which sports its fair share of aggression, feels familiar, whether we’re talking about the name or, more importantly, the styling influences.
You see, back in the 1960s, Nissan bought a company called Prince (the history of the latter is also intertwined with the early days of the GT-R badge, but this is another story for another time). And Prince had recently built the first prototype raver in Japan after WWII, the R380, as a means to give Porsche a hard time under the checkered flag.
The R nomenclature continued for decades (we’ll randomly mention the R390 of the late 90s here) until the GT-R LM Nismo took over in 2015, albeit with this effort performing well below expectations at Le Mans due to its FWD nature and thus being retired after its inaugural season.
Electric ambitions
Regardless, Nissan is now in Formula E and likes to stun us via ludicrous show cars related to such motorsport activities, such as the December 2021-introduced Ariya Single Seater Concept (as you can tell by its name, this doesn’t have too much in common with the Ariya at your local charging station).
Speaking of which, the 23-year old digital artist using the Hakosan Design label, who came up with the pixel proposal sitting before us, references the Aiya concept in the Instagram description of his work.
Despite the futuristic look one would expect from an electric supercar dubbed “Nissan R 2027”, which is clearly present, the way in which the fenders flow over the wheels and the shape of the light clusters at both ends are just some of the nods to real-world ancestors of the digital proposal.
Factor in the minimalist approach, along with elaborate details on the texture front—the tires are perhaps the best example of this—and you might just end up praying somebody over in Japan pays attention to this.
Oh, and while this is a street car, the artist mentioned he’s currently keeping himself busy with a Super GT version—sure, Nissan recently launched the Z GT500 racer, but this is an internal combustion effort.
