Nissan GTR

Nissan’s 450-hp all-wheel-drive supercar is coming to America. Will the fabulous Skyline GT-R come to the U.S.? The answer is yes. At the 2006 New York International Auto Show (NYIAS), Nissan president Carlos Ghosn announced that it indeed will come to America as a Nissan (not an Infiniti). The production car’s official debut will be at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show.

The latest Skyline GT-R prototype, pictured above, differs from ones seen previously. This one has a pair of small air vents in the hood and four large exhaust outlets in the rear. Past prototypes had no vents and just two tailpipes. The car in the photo obviously uses Infiniti G35 coupe sheetmetal, substantially modified to fit huge tires and a large front air dam. The real GT-R will look a lot like the Nissan GT-R Proto concept that debuted at the 2005 Tokyo Motor Show.

Nissan considered a V-8 for the next GT-R but has opted instead for a specially developed twin-turbo V-6, due to its lower weight and explosive power potential. A limited-edition 2005-model GT-R Z-tune, fitted with the now superseded twin-turbo straight-six, generated over 500 horsepower, showing the potential of this car. Britain’s Cosworth is helping Nissan extract more than 450 horsepower from the upcoming 3.7- or 3.8-liter V-6 while still meeting emissions laws.

2008 Nissan GT-R

It’s the most exciting car Japan has ever produced. Sorry Supra, too bad NSX, but there’s nothing quite like the Skyline GT-R. A technological tour de force, the GT-R has always been the dream car of the PlayStation generation. Since 1989, modern GT-Rs have always featured a twin turbocharged engine and electronically controlled all-wheel drive and steering. The last generation Skyline GT-R, the R34, was the first production car ever to feature an onboard computer that gave real-time dynamic readouts on a full color screen. Not to mention that it was fast and nimble enough to run head-to-head with a Porsche 911 GT3.

But it also has more, much more, than just an enviable reputation — it has a cult following. Like all the best sports cars (think Porsche 911, Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, Ford GT40), the Skyline earned its accolades in motorsport, where budgets were blown and technology distilled to make this car a world-beater.

In one sense, it’s esoteric — its price and position atop the Japanese fast car food chain put it just beyond the reach, but not out of the dreams, of the average salaryman. What cemented the car’s standing was that it became fairly affordable as the years went by. After the hype died down, anyone willing to take the chance on a used Japanese import could have bagged an R33, or even an R34, for reasonable money. And the fact that the 2.6-liter straight-six engine is so damned unburstable — inspiring a few crazed owners to tweak its power output up to over 1,000 horsepower — hasn’t hurt, either. In fact, much of the Godzilla reputation has been built on the street, not the track. It seems the GT-R has always been built for tuning.

Sad, then, that few American drivers have had the pleasure of spinning its twin turbos, experiencing the all-wheel-drive traction, and dancing with its four-wheel steering system. Because the plumbing of the turbos made conversion to lefthand drive impractical, the Skyline was never available in the U.S. To own one in America has taken dedication, foolhardiness, and money, in correspondingly generous portions. Up until now. Well, 2008, more like. That’s when the new GT-R will be coming to a Nissan dealership near you.

As you read this, the next generation GT-R is already attacking the North Loop of Germany’s famed Nrburgring as part of its extensive testing regimen. We’ve shown the photos in past issues — tweaked Skyline/G35 coupes with weird vents and hood bulges. Why the Nordschleife? Well, partly for the PR buzz it generates, but more importantly because the R34 GT-R clocked a time of 7.52 seconds, for many years the unofficial record for a production car, and a time the new model must obliterate.

Just how it will do that is largely a mystery. There is an unprecendented level of secrecy surrounding this new model. And it’s not just to get us all excited. Nissan knows it must be right from the word go. At the peak of his cost reduction campaign in 2001, CEO Carlos Ghosn reinvigorated Nissan and the industry by announcing a new GT-R would be coming and that this time, it would be available to the world.

Since then, the company has released two GT-R concepts but has gone completely dark about the specifications of the production car. Security is so strict, sources indicate that only a handful of engineers have the secondary security pass that grants access to the special building at the technical center in Atsugi, Japan, in which the GT-R is being developed.

Here is what we know: Previous GT-Rs have been based on Skyline sedans, but for the first time ever the GT-R will be a standalone model sharing no sheetmetal or even visual cues with the sedan. The GT-R Proto you see on these pages was designed by Hiroshi Hasegawa (who penned the Infiniti G35 sedan and coupe) under the direction of Shiro Nakamura, Nissan’s head of design, and it cuts a bold silhouette. Although it shares cues from the first GT-R prototype, which debuted in Tokyo in 2001, that version was deemed too smooth and not aggressive enough. Those criticisms, however, cannot be leveled at the Proto. With 20-inch wheels confirmed for production, riding on 255/40 tires in the front and 285/35 at the rear, this monster leaves large footprints. Blacked out A-pillars give the windshield a wraparound, helmet visor look. And then there are the kinky C-pillars… definitely not smooth.

Although the body will be all new, the GT-R will be based on a variation of the Front Midship (FM) platform that underpins the next generation Infiniti G35 Coupe. The logic behind this choice is clear: variations of the FM platform underpin a host of other Nissan/Infiniti products (everything from the 350Z to the FX45), and refining and repurposing existing technology instead creating from scratch is how CEO Ghosn garnered his nickname, “Le Cost Killer.”

But this doesn’t mean the GT-R will be some warmed-over G35 or that Nissan is building its next supercar on the cheap. Quite the opposite in fact. Case in point, Lotus has been brought in to help fine-tune the suspension. What Lotus engineers don’t know about suspensions, you could write on a pinhead, and you’d better believe that kind of expertise doesn’t come cheap.

Like its predecessor, the GT-R will be all-wheel drive — most likely an updated version of Nissan’s Advanced Total Traction Engineering System for All - Electronic Torque Split (ATTESA-ETS) system. At its peak, the R34 Nur Spec GT-R’s ATTESA-ETS Pro system could send 100 percent of the torque to the rear wheels in mere milliseconds, allowing up to a 50:50 front/rear split when required. The rear axle even had an active limited-slip differential that allowed for a bit of tail-out action. But that was 2002, and since then, there have been great strides in all-wheel-drive technology, most notably Honda’s Super Handling-All-Wheel Drive (SH-AWD) and Mitsubishi’s Super All-Wheel Control (S-AWC) systems. Expect the next generation GT-R to feature an updated ATTESA system that pushes state-of-the-art even further; probably with upgraded torque split flexibility, including the ability to send torque side-to-side as well.

The R34 featured Super-High Capacity Actively Controlled Suspension (Super-HICAS), a four-wheel steering system that turned the front and rear wheels in the opposite direction at low speeds for added maneuverability. At high speeds, the rear wheels move in the same direction as the fronts, for instantaneous reaction and agility. No doubt the next gen GT-R will carry an upgraded version of Super-HICAS, but there’s no word on just how it will be improved.

The biggest question has been the engine. Many have wondered whether the GT-R will up the ante and move upmarket into V-8 territory. But our sources indicate the GT-R’s engine will be a reworked, twin-turbocharged version of the 3.5-liter VQ35 V-6, potentially destroked for higher piston speeds. In addition to turbo heritage, business concerns weigh significantly upon the minds of the higher-ups at Nissan, and the VQ35 is an engine Nissan uses in almost every model — from the Altima to the Quest minivan.

But lest you think your next favorite supercar will be powered by the same engine in Mom’s minivan, you should know that the GT-R’s VQ will be almost completely unrecognizable. How do we know? Because at the New York Auto Show, Nissan unveiled the next generation Infiniti G35 sedan. Although the makeover of their best selling luxury sedan was more evolutionary than revolutionary, the VQ35 engine was heavily revised, with 80-percent new content, a redline increased to 7500 rpm, and power boosted over the 300-bhp mark. Clearly, Nissan is investing heavily in the VQ35 development.

Credible sources also indicate that Cosworth, England’s legendary race engine specialist, has been working extensively on the VQ under Nissan’s direction. Whether it’s bored out to 3.8 liters as some suggest, or destroked to 3.2, once it’s paired with twin, ball-bearing turbos, we should see a power output somewhere between 450 and 500 hp and torque approaching 500 lb-ft. The large contact patch of the tires and stratospheric performance targets support these kinds of numbers.

Whereas the R34 was equipped with a Getrag six-speed manual transmission, we’re expecting something more cutting-edge this time around. The new G35 features a six-speed manual or a five-speed autobox with magnesium paddle shifters, but that probably won’t be high-tech enough for Nissan’s ne plus ultra. Could the next generation GT-R be an automatic? A semi-manual arrangement requiring just throttle and brake pedals with steering-wheel-mounted gearshift paddles flicking through seven or eight (like Toyota’s new Lexus gearbox) forward ratios could be in the cards. We know for sure there will be some form of launch control mode like that found in the Magneti Marelli transmission systems used by Ferrari and Aston Martin. While purists may howl, such a system would fit the GT crowd, if not the R lover