Salve ragazzi,
Sembra che in questi giorni al ring si facciano incontri interessanti, da Mizuno a Andy Palmer (Global Product Planning di Nissan), alle nuove modifiche per l'assetto della GT-R.
La notizia è che la Nissan ha deciso di investire sul prodotto GT-R, quindi in futuro apparirà sul mercato un nuovo modello, denominato R36, dotato di iniezione diretta ed ulteriori modifiche aerodinamiche.
NISSAN CONFIRMS GT-R REPLACEMENT 'Evolutionary' R36 should be with us by 2013 by pistonheadsNissan has reconfirmed its commitment to an ongoing GT-R development programme, with a model replacement cycle in place that should see an R36 hit the streets by 2013 at the latest.
PistonHeads was at Nissan’s Nurburgring Technical Centre earlier this week, when VP of global product planning Andy Palmer paid a flying visit to show his support for the GT-R programme lead by Kazutoshi Mizuno.
It was Andy’s first meeting with the Japanese GT-R ‘away team’ at the Nurburgring and, speaking informally to the assembled engineers and support staff, he spoke warmly of their achievements and reaffirmed Nissan’s commitment to the GT-R project.
“These are very hard times and, as you know, we have had to make cuts to many programmes,’ he told the team. ‘However, it is very important to Nissan that we remain able to offer a diverse range of vehicles from electric cars, to LCVs and the GT-R and we continue to fully support the work you are doing here.”
Speaking to PH later on – while waiting for a rapid ride around the Nurburgring circuit in a Spec-V development car – Andy confirmed that a model replacement programme was still in place in spite of the economic downturn, based on a roughly similar timescale to the Porsche replacement cycle.
With the 911 GT2 being the car Nissan likes to benchmark, that puts a lifespan of 5-6 years on the current R35 - according to our rudimentary maths.
Unsurprisingly, Andy also confirmed to us that the next-generation GT-R will be an evolution of the current platform, and will therefore retain the twin-turbocharged V6 and rear transaxle configuration.
“In that respect, it’s not going to be a massive one-off investment,” Palmer told PH. “It’s more a case of putting a bit of money into the programme every year, to make sure we keep the GT-R where it needs to be.”
Report: Nissan Exec Confirms R36 Replacement For GT-R by motorauthorityThe development and launch of the current R35 Nissan GT-R was an epic achievement for the Japanese automaker. After all, Nissan was able design and engineer a sports car capable of outperforming exotic supercars with pricetags twice as high, as well as make it seat four adults in relative comfort and be easy to drive everyday.
A series of planned updates of the car should allow the GT-R to remain supreme for some time to come, and this will reportedly include the introduction of a brand new model around 2013.
At a special event at Nissan’s Nurburgring Technical Centre last week, Nissan’s vice president of global product planning, Andy Palmer, reaffirmed Nissan’s commitment to the GT-R project.
Palmer also confirmed that a model replacement program for the GT-R was still in place despite the economic downturn. He explained that Nissan is planning to mimic the timescale used by Porsche for its 911 GT-2, which means a model life cycle of around five to six years.
Palmer said the R36 GT-R would be more of an evolution of the current model’s platform rather than a completely new car like the R35. This means that a twin-turbocharged V-6 powertrain will remain, as will the current rear transaxle configuration.
This fits with Nissan’s plan to continuously improve on the GT-R to ensure the car remains competitive.
Poi ci sono le fantasiose interpretazioni di Autoblog:La nuova Nissan GT-R R36 arriverà nel 2013. Lo conferma Andy Palmer, vice presidente della casa giapponese, il quale si sbottona su alcune preziose informazioni sul nuovo modello. Nello specifico, durante un’ intervista per un noto magazine americano, Palmer ha affermato che Nissan si è ispirata a Porsche per quanto riguarda il ritmo di aggiornamento dei propri prodotti (non avevamo dubbi).
La nuova GT-R R36 sarà costruita su un telaio evoluto rispetto a quello attuale e conserverà il suo possente V6 biturbo, opportunamente rivisitato e potenziato (potrebbe arrivare l’iniezione diretta del carburante). Sarà comunque conservata l’attuale architettura meccanica dell’auto.
Il fatto che Palmer, nel corso dell’intervista, abbia parlato di Porsche GT2 come punto di riferimento per la GT-R, ci fa pensare che la nuova supercar Nissan riceverà una consistente iniezione di potenza per poter competere adeguatamente con la più “cavallata” delle 911. Inoltre, vista la configurazione della GT2, le parole del boss della casa giapponese ci permettono di poter fare qualche timida speculazione sull’arrivo di una variante della GT-R a sola trazione posteriore.
Qualunque sia il futuro della GT-R è sicuramente certo che la casa non ha intenzione di tagliare di un centesimo di euro il suo programma di sviluppo: Palmer stesso ha affermato che, nonostante la crisi economica abbia di fatto cancellato molti programmi della casa, Nissan crede fortemente nella GT-R; e che non intende tirarsi indietro per quanto riguarda le sue future evoluzioni. Si tratta di “ spendere pochi soldi ogni anno per mantenere la GT-R ed il suo sviluppo al top”. Nulla di buono per la società delle supercars del futuro quindi.
