Yahoo Autos Nissan Global Boss: Nismo Performance Brand Could Spread, May Be Electrified
Nissan's performance offerings are sparse these days. Hot Nissans are few and far between in the U.S., and European buyers have it worse: thanks to strict noise and emission regulations, the entire region currently does without any speedy Nissans. But according to one executive from the carmaker, this is likely to change soon — especially once the brand begins rolling out its future electrified performance models.
In a conversation with Autocar, Nissan global product strategy boss Ivan Espinosa said that "the future interpretation of [Nissan's] really high-performance cars will likely be electrified." That, he says, should allow the brand to return to Europe and the U.K. when those products eventually do debut.
He also suggests that the Nismo high-performance sub-brand might expand to a wider range of vehicles in the line. “You can also imagine a few of our key nameplates having a Nismo version, because that’s a way to bring Nismo excitement to more customers. Those are the key elements we’ll be playing with for Nismo in the future,” Espinosa said.
Although the R35-generation GT-R's production run extended all the way to 2024 here in the U.S. market, the R35 left showrooms in Europe early because of changing emissions standards. American buyers received a new Z in 2022 and a Nismo variant in 2023, but Nissan chose not to develop a variant that could pass European emission standards — so that car is not currently offered in either the British or European markets. Buyers in those markets do have one Nismo product to choose from, but it's hardly a sports car: it's a toasted-up variant of the Ariya electric crossover.
Of course, talk of Nissan's performance future begs the question: when will we see the next-generation GT-R? There's little concrete to go by, but the brand has hinted at an electric — or at least electrified — future for the car in recent years. Those clues most notably came in the form of last year's Hyper Force concept pictured above, an ultra-powerful electric interpretation of what the next GT-R could be. Nissan executives also hinted at some specifics of both a new GT-R and the next Z generation in March. Still, neither product has a concrete timeline, so it may be quite some time before America or Europe sees its next round of speedy Nismo variants or all-new Nissan sports cars.
You Might Also Like
