Remember how the Nissan GT-R used to challenge the Porsche 911 Turbo when it was unleashed back in 2007? Well, the R35 is still doing that, despite the German having received not one, but two new iterations meanwhile. Even so, the Japanese halo car is the odd one out in this comparo, but while Nissan has repeatedly hinted at a generation change, we have yet to receive any details on the direction chosen for Godzilla’s (r)evolution. So this independent rendering proposes a radical makeover for the R36 GT-R, from the endurance racer look to the fully electrified motivation.
If we take a look at the Nissan Z that has landed in the U.S. (and Japan, but not Europe) after what seemed like a never-ending wait, we notice the carmaker chose to update the old model’s platform, while skipping any form of electric assistance—there’s a twin-turbo V6 in there—at least for the time being.
So, will the company do the same for the GT-R? While we can’t discard this possibility (the GT-R has become a high-tech legend, which may or may not imply bringing electric motors aboard for the R36), the 2022 Nissan Z should provide another important clue: the retro-inspired styling.
And while many expect the next Godzilla to borrow the angular styling cues of the first modern GT-R, the R32 of the early 90s, digital artist Hakosan Design chose different muses—while the racer look, with that teardrop-style greenhouse, comes from the R390 road car/endurance effort delivered in the late 90s, we can also see the influence of the R34 and the more recent Italdesign-styled GT-R50 in the taillights.
The 25-year-old Spanish 3D concept artist opened the gates of his mind to give us an all-electric GT-R, which would make use of monstrous torque and razor-sharp AWD to tackle the competition. And with Porsche having showcased the 1073 hp Mission R EV sportscar concept this fall, this might not be a bad idea.
However, the rendering traces its roots to a much more humble member of the Nissan range: “My family had a Primera more than 20 years ago and [this was] the trigger for my passion for the automotive world and Japanese culture,“
The artist states that a Le Mans incarnation of the concept is in the works. And given Nissan’s failed FWD endurance racing experiment that was the Nissan GT-R LM Nismo of 2015, such a proposal could come in handy.
Meanwhile, in the real world, we’ll remind that Nissan sometimes likes to tease us with (admittedly) stunning concepts years before these turn into production models. And since we’ve yet to lay eyes on any R36 study, we probably have some serious waiting to do before the production car lands.
