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Nissan Rolls Out Latest GTR Supercar |
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Monday, 28 January 2008 |
After ten years, Nissan unveiled their new supercar that will soon be
available in the United States. The $70k GT-R will seat four and brings
a practical edge to a car that is fully capable of competing at a track
as well as getting you to and from work. Their price point keeps the
vehicle within reach of the normal folk while giving the rich plenty of
breathing room to indulge themselves with a hot new toy.
Sir Carlos Ghosn the CEO of Nissan has been working to get this car to the market since he took over the company in 1999, but the road hasn’t always been smooth. This has been his baby and after several years of trying, his dream has finally come to fruition. Ghosn had the car designed from the ground up once he finally got the go-ahead, making it a truly unique vehicle for the company.
He had a vision for this car that took quite some time to implement. The first order of business was that it had to be able to beat a Porsche 911 Turbo, which retails for more than $115k. An engineering team was dispatched to the Nordschliefe Loop in Germany where they spent six months trying to accomplish this goal. Once they were successful, they knew they had the right vehicle on their hands.
One of the main problems facing the GT-R during the design process was the budget. Ghosn concedes that the budget was quite low, but pointed out that this enabled the team to work smarter, producing a car for much less money. Lastly, Ghosn wanted to make sure that the end result was not a race car, but rather a vehicle that could be used every day. "A supercar should not be punishment," he explained. "When it rains, when it snows, when you want to go shopping, you should not have to choose another car."
As the final challenge, Ghosn insisted that the new supercar be environmentally friendly. The design team’s final model actually exceeded Japan’s regulations for emissions, which made the GT-R one of the cleanest supercars on the planet. The final product was ready and it is expected that the new GT-R will be arriving in America as early as June in 2008.
Testers for the GT-R found that although the interior is rather simple, it is very comfortable and ergonomic. All the controls are easily visible from the driver’s seat and are easy to reach. 11 real-time performance read outs are available, allowing you to keep track of everything that’s going on with your car.
The GT-R uses a shifter with three toggles: Normal, Comfort and R. R is of course for when you want to really take the car through its paces. There is also an automatic mode as well as a paddle shift manual if you really want to have some fun. The GT-R may be Ghosn’s dream car, but his hard work brought it to fruition.
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