Class-leading acceleration, superb track performance and excellent value for money are all well and good, but all of that pales in comparison to being bestowed with the honor of becoming the focus of a dedicated LEGO model.
Started in 2015 to celebrate the achievements of the first hybrid hypercars—the Ferrari La Ferrari, McLaren P1 and Porsche 918 Spyder—subsequent LEGO Speed Champions kits have become extremely popular with collectors (and even children too…) and now the Nissan GT-R Nismo has become the latest to join the ranks of these automotive legends. It also signals the first such partnership between LEGO and a Japanese auto manufacturer.
The Nissan GT-R model was revealed by LEGO Group CEO Niels B. Christiansen and Asako Hoshino, executive vice president at Nissan, at the automaker’s global headquarters in Yokohama today.
Hoshino said: “The Nissan GT-R and the LEGO brand are both renowned and loved by fans of all ages throughout the world, and we are honored to be the first-ever Japanese car manufacturer to partner with the LEGO Group. Many of our Nissan customers can trace their automotive passion back to when they built Lego cars as children. With this partnership, everyone can be a `takumi’—the specialized craftsmen that build the GT-R. And, it’s the GT-R’s 50th anniversary this year, so what better way to celebrate than to share the GT-R with Nissan and LEGO fans around the world!”
Hiroshi Tamura, Nissan’s chief product specialist for the GT-R—known as “Mr. GT-R”—also signed off on the scaled-down LEGO version, “The GT-R has been part of my life since I was 10 years old. Working with the Lego Group was like awakening my inner 10-year-old self to rediscover what makes the GT-R so special to me. It’s amazing how much the Lego Group’s attention to detail reminds me of our own craftsmen.”
The LEGO Speed Champions Nissan GT-R Nismo will be on sale globally from January 2020 and it is also one of the first models in the range that will be 25 percent larger than in previous years. Made from 298 LEGO components, a lot of attention was given to the design of the blocky little GT-R to ensure that it embodied the many recognizable elements of the real car. The end result looks awesome and will make the perfect gift for the 10-year-old gearhead (and the gearhead’s dad of course).
