With the new Nissan Z out there doing donuts, we’re looking forward to Nissan’s next move in the go-fast department, namely introducing an all-new R36 iteration of the GT-R. And while the company has confirmed this is in the works, we’ve received little else. As such, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that independent designer Euan McPherson took a jab at penning the new Godzilla.
With internal combustion engines appearing to be on their way out, this will possibly be the final GT-R iteration before this badge turns all-electric, even though the Japanese automaker hasn’t made it clear if the future halo product will retain the ICE-only configuration of the present model or if this is set to make use of hybrid power.
Back when the present R35 entered production in late 2007, this was targeting the Porsche 911 Turbo, which has received two new generations meanwhile, so, together with machines such as the SRT-massaged Dodge Challenger and Charger, the Japanese model remains one of the last old-school performance models on sale today.
As such, Scottish penning master Euan McPherson, who is a lead designer at Frank Stephenson Automotive (the name of the latter might be familiar thanks to his efforts for companies like MINI, Ferrari, Maserati and McLaren), decided to maintain R35 elements such as the headlight design or the front grille for his virtual project.
Then we have features that reach back across the decades to the entire GT-R family, such as the quadruple round taillights.
Nevertheless, while many expect Nissan to keep the angular, upright styling of the present car in place, this designer chose to gift the proposal with a more streamlined profile—the way in which the roof flows into the rear window is a dramatic departure from the traditional GT-R look.
Judging by what we can see in these renderings, one would expect advanced aero to have played an important role in shaping the supercar, from the hood aero channeling to that Batman-esque split rear wing.
At least to these eyes, it looks like the designer didn’t want to tip the balance towards a mid-engined evolution of Godzilla, even though some of the elements seen here, such as those deep hood operations and the said roofline, could allow such a layout.
So, if you’d like to see the GT-R as a C8 Corvette rival, you can easily imagine a turbocharged V6 sitting back there, even though that would mean renouncing the also-tradition 2+2 layout of the GT-R, which would be a massive gamble for Nissan.
