Images courtesy of Nissan/Italdesign
If you’re in the planning stages or elbow-deep in process of a GT-R restoration from the R32, R33, or R34 generation, NISMO has you covered. Nissan’s motorsport department recently added a few dozen items to its growing catalog of brand new replacement pieces for the popular AWD sports cars, but let’s say you already have a minty Z-Tune or something similarly grail-like sitting in your garage that’s in need of nothing (you lucky bastard)—what do you add to your collection? How about a million-dollar collectible with over 700bhp and redesigned by Italians?
2019 will mark 50 years since the GT-R badge first appeared on a Nissan Skyline, and to commemorate the occasion the Japanese automaker has partnered with Italdesign to produce a limited-edition version of the current NISMO-ized GT-R with redesigned bodywork, a material boost in performance, and hopefully a hearty mail-in rebate form with paid postage sitting in the carbon glovebox. The GT-R50 concept has been making the rounds this year at events like Goodwood and weeks like Car Week, but today the final production variant was revealed. It’s only in computer render form at the moment, but it looks more or less just like the concept car that debuted this summer, and Nissan says the real cars being converted in 2019 will look just like it. For a refresher, here are the basics:
The GT-R50 is Nissan’s “ultimate expression of the GT-R” and despite some warranted cynicism aimed at the price tag, it really is a lot more than a new trim package for an existing model. In collaboration with Giorgetto Giugiaro’s Italdesign styling house—winding down its own 50th birthday celebrations in 2018—the standard GT-R’s roofline has come down, the main components of its aero package have been tweaked (the front splitter, rear diffuser, and the wing are all new on this car), the hood gets a nice muscular bump added to it, and headlight and taillight design is at the forefront of the GT-R50’s distinct look. The cabin features a carbon fiber dash and center console, some Alcantara (seats and steering wheel), as well as the requisite pieces of badging to remind you that your car is special.
The new look is bound to be polarizing, but Nissan says that if you don’t like the excess of gold paint you are free to choose your own scheme—then again, when you’re paying hypercar money for a Nissan, you’d expect them to let you choose the colors. But then again, again, the GT-R NISMO that this car is based on can spank plenty of pricier asses on the track. And the GT-R50 is even quicker. The standard 3.8L twin-turbocharged V6 remains under the hood, but it’s been comprehensively upgraded to produce 710bhp and 780Nm of torque (about 575ft-lbs). That comes by way of bigger snails and intercoolers, new injectors, stronger pistons, as well as your typical exhaust and intake tuning.
In addition to an uprated gearbox and diff to handle the power boost, the chassis has been similarly spec’d up and features Bilstein DampTronic adjustable suspension on all four corners and some hale six-piston Brembos trying in vain to hide behind the new 21″ lightweight wheels. The first deliveries are slated for sometime next year, and Nissan expects to complete the run of 50 cars by 2020. The base price is an eye-twitching €990,000 (over $1.1m), but given the mythic status of the badge being celebrated in this instance, I’m sure these will have no trouble finding homes, but what do you think? Of the design, the price, the legacy, any of it.
