Nissan has confirmed their famed budget supercar, the GTR, will eventually go electric. Speaking to Top Gear, Nissan's chief operating officer Ashwani Gupta admitted an all-electric GTR will happen, although it could be quite a while before we see it. Why? Because Nissan believes the technology isn't there at the moment to make compelling electric sports cars - an interesting take given the likes of Porsche and Lotus are already hard at work developing 2-door enthusiasts EVs. Gupta stated the following when quizzed about electrifying the GTR and Z lineup (via Top Gear.com):
"At present, when we do all the simulations to the electrification on these cars, we don’t find the right technology to define what is ‘Z’ and what is ‘GT-R’. And at the end, these two are not cars, these are our culture."
The current iteration of the GTR, the R35, has been on sale for almost 15 years and is nearing the end of its life cycle. In fact, Nissan doesn't sell the GTR in Europe anymore as it can't meet current noise regulations. Meanwhile, those in the US can't order a new GTR with the books being closed for the current model year.
When the new R36 GTR will arrive remains to be seen, although the chances of it being all-electric are slim to none. A mild hybrid powertrain is looking most probable, with the electric Ashwani Gupta mentioned likely being its successor. Given the R35 GTR has been around since 2007, the new R36 model should have decent longevity as well. Hence it could be well into the 2030s before the potentially fully electric R37 GTR arrives, if that is to be the case.
Nissan is collaborating with Oxford University on battery tech research, meanwhile a new £1 billion ($1.23 billion) gigafactory in Sunderland will replace Nissan's existing facility in North-East England and will open later this decade.
