There’s still more to come from the R35 Nissan GT-R

It’s easy to get swept up in the business of figuring out what Nissan plans to do with its next generation, ‘R36’ GT-R. Hybrid? Fully electric? Moon lander?

Though we’ve got a good idea on what the next Godzilla might feature, don’t count out the current one just yet. Because despite its advancing years, the R35 “has still got some more life in it”, we're assured.

Earlier this year, we saw the 2017 GT-R; the most comprehensive refresh of the R35 GT-R since it was launched. Nissan thinks of the GT-R in two distinct realms: the ‘GT’ bit (comfort, luxury and what have you), and ‘R’ (the banshee, lap-slaying Internet-friendly bit).

Nissan told TG that “there are still areas we know we have opportunities to improve on with the R35”. When pushed on what those areas might be, the company said: “There are things we can do from an ‘R’ point of view (so ‘speed’, then), and the weight has always been a source of criticism for this car, even if it doesn’t show in the performance.

“So there are things we can do with the weight. There are opportunities there.”

No further information was given, but the seeds are there – a potentially harder, lightweight GT-R, now that the ‘standard’ car has been upgraded both inside and out. “The improvements that we’ve made… we don’t see it as not being competitive. We’ve got a solid base of customers that have had this car for a long time, and we still can’t see other products from our competitors that our customers want to walk in to.

“We’ve now given them a reason to change into the new car.”

And the Nismo GT-R, announced earlier this year and a car that’s only recently gone on sale, has also been hitting its sales expectations. Less than 500 are planned globally, and in Japan at least – as well as the UK, where it costs a whopping £150k – interest is said to be “good”.

When pushed on the price aspect of the current GT-R though, Nissan said: “We’re walking it up with improved performance and improved specifications. We don’t subscribe to the view that we’re pricing ourselves out of the market. It’s still very good value for money.”

More news as we have it...