It’s dead in its homeland, but is this permanent?
Ever since the Nissan GT-R burst onto the US scene in July of 2008, the humble Japanese supercar has been putting the hurt on exotica that costs far more. With the most recent Nissan GT-R Nismo, not to mention continuous updates over its 14-year lifecycle, the cost disparity between the so-called ‘PlayStation supercar’ and the established supercar order has dwindled; the Nismo now costs a fair bit more than $200,000. Yet it has stayed relatively competitive in comparative tests, which is why it has stuck around for so long. But all good things must come to an end. Australia killed off the GT-R last year while Holland did so in March. Now it’s dead in its home country of Japan, so is it dead globally, and is it dead permanently?
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Nissan
The news that the GT-R is dead for the Japanese domestic market comes via the brand’s website, where the tab for the 2022 GT-R was updated to read that sales have come to an end “because the number of orders has reached the planned sales volume.” CarScoops reached out to Nissan to find out how this would affect the US market following the reveal of the limited-edition T-spec in September last year, and a spokesperson had this to say:
“The 2022 GT-R was only released in Japan and was only designated with the GT-R T-spec and Nismo Special Edition models while the US kept its Nismo Special Edition and T-spec models as 2021s. Beyond those models, we can’t comment further on future product plans or endorsements.”
So it seems that the GT-R is getting a final run in Japan only and that the US will not be allowed access to the GT-R for the 2022 or 2023 model years. Sadly, that response from Nissan also shows that the brand is as yet unwilling to fully reveal its plans for the model. Fortunately, your chance to own a combustion-powered GT-R may not have passed you just yet. The latest rumors suggest that Nissan is not rushing into an all-electric GT-R and the R36 model that replaces today’s GT-R may still arrive with a high-performance V6, albeit hybridized.
Whatever the future holds for the next GT-R, the R35 seems to be well and truly dead. Then again, with semiconductor supply issues stunting the release schedules of numerous new cars and causing backlogs in nearly every aspect of vehicle development, Nissan may just reveal yet another special edition send-off to tide it over until the R36 is ready for the market.
Nissan
Nissan
Nissan
Nissan
