Nissan Design Chief Claims Next GT-R Will Be “The World’s Fastest Brick”

Nissan is still in a very early stage of designing and engineering a completely new platform for the next-gen GT-R. In fact, the Japanese manufacturer has still to decide if, and how, it will implement electrification on the model’s new powertrain.

Nevertheless, Nissan’s design boss Alfonso Albaisa told Autocar that the next GT-R will not take styling cues from the GTR-50 that made its world debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Instead, he claimed, Nissan’s halo performance car “has to be its own special car” as well as “the fastest super sports car in the world”.

While Albaisa is constantly reviewing design proposals for the new GT-R, he admitted that his team can’t begin serious work until decisions about the powertrain and new platform are finalized.

“The challenge is on the engineer, to be honest,” he said. “We will do our jobs when the time comes to make the car something really special. But we’re not even close to that yet.”

This means that a new GT-R is still years away from production, with Nissan most likely to bring it into the market early in the next decade.

Nissan Vision 2020 Concept

Albaisa admitted that electrification for the next GT-R is likely, but not confirmed at this point. “Whether we go to a lot of electrification or none at all, we can achieve a lot power wise,” he said. “But we are definitely making a new ‘platform’ and our goal is clear: GT-R has to be the quickest car of its kind. It has to ‘own’ the track. And it has to play the advanced technology game; but that doesn’t mean it has to be electric.”

Nissan had previously developed a hybrid powertrain with a twin-turbo 3.0-liter V6 for the stillborn 2016 LMP1 GT-R race car, providing a possible glimpse of what’s to come.

With the current GT-R offering 562hp in its standard form, it’s not that hard to imagine a successor offering way over 600hp.

“We simply have to reflect people’s dreams; and I think people dream that the next GT-R will be the hottest super sports car in the world,” said Albaisa. Nissan’s design boss added that the car would retain the muscular character of the R35: “It’s an animal; it has to be imposing and excessive. Not in terms of its wings, but rather its visual mass, its presence and its audacity.

“It doesn’t care what every other supercar in the world is doing; it simply says: ‘I’m a GT-R, I’m a brick, catch me.’ It’s the world’s fastest brick, really. And when I review sketches for the new car, I say that a lot: “Less wing, more brick.’”

Opening image credit: Goodwood