Nissan Australia wants GT-R

Nissan Australia says landing the long-awaited hero model would rekindle interest in the company's passenger car line-up

Nissan's local arm wants to appeal to Aussie armchair racers and is working hard on getting the next generation GT-R Down Under.

To be launched in October at the Toyko Motor Show, the GTR is an international 'open secret' and perhaps the most blogged car on the web today. Already captured by spy photographers lapping the Nurburgring and testing back-to-back with high-po Porsches in the USA, the new Nissan flagship has been confirmed for the USA and Europe, but is yet to be signed off for Australia.

Marketing manger Ross Booth told the Carsales Network that Nissan, regarded these days more for its four-wheel drive and softroader offerings, will increasingly focus on the passenger car segment going forward. He said that bringing the GT-R Down Under available would help return interest to the brand.

"We really need to expand our action in the passenger market and if we can get what people want we'll keep selling cars.

"Some of us grew up watching Nissans racing, like Jim [Richards] and the fantastic GT-R. The new release GT-R is a great opportunity for us if we can get it here."

As reported in CN Confidential (more here), Nissan Australia is looking at re-establishing the Skyline rear-wheel drive range for local market. This would create a 'bread and butter' range from which to leverage the GT-R supercar.

The new GT-R will be launched as a coupe only. And where previous iterations were based upon the Skyline and also wore its badges, the new car features a bespoke structure, its own mechanicals and is tipped to be known as 'GTR' only.

While various powerplants have been rumoured, the smart money is now on a twin-turbo V6 engine producing around about 320kW in its 'base' form. Powered up versions are said to be good for over 400kW!

The GT-R will use rear-biased all-wheel drive and resemble the prototype version revealed at the 2005 Tokyo motor show (pictured).