Nissan’s motorsports and performance division may have an ace up its sleeve reserved for the future.
Although it’s probably too soon to be certain, it appears that Nismo has some big plans reserved for the future. That said, Nissan’s performance division will not, apparently, encapsulate its whole existence around the Japanese car maker’s line-up, but focus on a standalone project as well.
In an interview with Top Gear, Nissan’s chief product specialist Hiroshi Tamura expressed his views on a fully-fledged, Nismo-branded, bespoke supercar, stating:
“Nismo is still a baby brand. And the baby needs protection. So not yet. But some day… yes.”
Of course, Nismo – as a brand and as a division – will have to go through a lengthy development process before establishing itself as a capable, exotic manufacturer in order to get to the point of building a self-badged automobile from the ground-up. Don’t get us wrong, the department is a very competent player in the industry (just look at the R34 Nismo), but the brand lacks a certain type of customer awareness and appeal, as Tamura continued:
“RS, AMG and M have been around for years, so for them, they can diversify. Right now, for me, it’s important to get new customers; the ‘high-life seeker’. The original Nismo customer is only a performance seeker, people are always talking about performance… the ‘pub talk’. There’s too much motorsport and performance orientation, which means [some customers] cannot enjoy this very narrow scope.”
Granted, maybe a “high-life” Nismo isn’t what the purists had in mind, but it seems this path it taken into consideration by the firm.
To top it off, the British magazine reports that Nismo’s program director, Bob Laishley, also a standalone automobile is a good idea for Nismo, stating:
“I would like to aspire to that. Whether we can, or whether that’s what the next GT-R should be… it’s a question of where we take it.”
Note: GT-R Nismo N Attack Package pictured
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