Why the Italdesign GTR is a radical move from Nissan

Imagine the most sporty kid you know win a 100 m race. Simple right? Now imagine the quietest kid, the person who wants-to-skip-P.E wins a 100 m race. Huh doesn’t make sense does it? But that is exactly what the GTR was for Nissan.  A surprise move into the big boys leagues at a fraction of the price.

Traditionally a company which made its name by mass-producing consumer level cars, the release of the GTR was greeted with Mount-Everest sized scepticism as well as lot of forehead scratching and intensive face-palming. We thought Nissan lost its balls or in more polite Japanese terms, showed an amazing example of hara-kiri. But when the automobile proved itself to be one of the fastest 0-100 (62mph) cars, a lot of heads turned. The additional fact that car came with a typical Japanese build quality (which is good) and very practical price (which is also good), made the car a very quick seller.

For Nissan it was a massive success, like a guy buying 2 lottery tickets and winning both. It’s like how the LFA changed the entire perception of Lexus, cuz if you didn’t know Lexus then you definitely would now. More people can identify a GTR compared to a McLaren, a Koenigsegg, and a Bugatti. It is a poster boy for games, underground racing as well as the car you juuusst waaannnt to tune. You could add a ridiculous amount of car paraphernalia and it would still bring people to rip out their phones and post it on Instagram , in a good way.

But over time it has frayed out, hopelessly out gunned by big name rivals like Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Porsche. From the poster boy, it became a car for beginner thrills, or if you were more wallet conscious. And in a sense this was probably what Nissan’s target market was, people who want to go fast but not enough to hopelessly burn their wallet. But while the competition became better the GTR was downgraded from supercar to a mere sports car status. I can wager than given a long enough roads even a BMW M5 could beat it. And the M5 is nothing more than leather and German tech on 4 wheels. Compared to the likes of Ferrari versus compared to the likes of BMW surely represents a significant difference.

You think Nissan would do something, but sadly other than M&M sized increases in power and few facelifts which were nothing more than erasing parts of the original diagram and adding an extra line or two, the GTR has stayed the same. For Nissan it was probably okay. At the end of the day they are not a specialised sports car or supercar company and with their life bread being consumer cars like X-Trails (Rogue I think) and cargo vans it could rarely afford to go all in in the supercar business. While the GTR still remains a respectably cheap fast car, it is only fast as a Saturn V rocket for the first 2-3 seconds after which it peters out. If it sells well, Nissan are happy and considering they had a huge financial crisis a few years ago, it would be prudent for them to carelessly splash some money on something already going well.

This is exactly why the Italdesign Nissan GTR represents a radical change in its philosophy.It shows they too want to build a supercar, they want to invest and finally make it back to the upper echelons of their glory days.

Nissan have made a futuristic car before but that was only for Gran Turismo. This however is an entirely new breed. With 710 horsepower it represents a radical change from the standard GTR’s 565 horsepower. I’m not going to delve into specs so much because the main thing, the elephant In the room, is how much more refined and gobsmackingly beautiful this new car looks. I mean just looooook at it. It could stop traffic from a mile away and its even astronauts in ISS would have been  able to admire its wonderfully lustrous back-side while it sashayed through the hills of Goodwood. And that’s good.

Now you might say, ‘There is no way they would mass produce it right?’ And you are indefinitely correct. This car is as one-off as your sibling actually behaving nice to you. In other words it is very rare. There is a lot of incessant chatter regarding how Nissan is planning to make 50 of them for 800,000 pounds. And they are probably going to be sold out faster than ice-cream on a hot summer day. Not like many of us have 800,000 pounds lying anyway. But this has definitely put Nissan back in the supercar-ball game.

People who can afford this amount of money are not super-keen on specs. They like cars which can give the visceral growl but they are likely to be purring along Knightsbridge, trundling towards the next Monaco casino, or taking a long drive along the beautiful paved Middle Eastern desert. And Nissan GTR is a sure standout. With higher performance and super-model looks it is going to attract unfathomable looks of envy not only from the car-spotters but also from that Ferrari, or Lambo owner (trying his best to put a brave face while discreetly crying) in the corner. And that was a Nissan GTR should be about. A proper poster boy.

If you are crying or desperately trying to open a budgeting app to save up money to buy this beast, fret not. Nissan are likely to introduce major design changes for the next GTR as well as add more power. And being the smart Japanese people they are, they will surely take some design cues from this limited edition Caravaggio masterpiece on wheels. We might have to wait, but  the wait will probably be worth it.

 P.S. I'm not old enough (or maybe I'm just very lazy) to know more about GTR's history, so any discrepancies, please let me know.