Aussies want Nissan GT-R Nismo now

It's very much a case of 'when' not 'if' the Nismo brand comes to Australia, but that doesn't help customers who want to place deposits on the Nissan GT-R Nismo immediately.

The day after the sizzling GT-R Nismo was revealed at last week’s Tokyo motor show, Nissan Australia Managing Director and CEO Peter Jones told motoring.com.au that one dealer wanted to place five orders for the wild new Japanese supercar.

Even so, the company is still no closer to confirming when we'll see Nissan's high-performance brand launch in Australia.

"I've taken a lot of calls and already had a dealer ring me and say I've got five orders for the GT-R Nismo, and are we getting it. The answer is clearly no, not yet."

Nissan's high-performance hot shop has three production models available to customers overseas at present, the Nissan GT-R Nismo, 370Z Nismo and JUKE Nismo. All three are built in right-hand drive configuration with engine, chassis and body work upgrades, and could be sold Down Under.

But Nissan is providing no clues as to which one we'll see first and when that might be.

"Nismo is one of those things we're studying, and there'll be a time and place for Nismo in Australia, but right now we've just launched two models, Pathfinder and Altima. We’re concentrating on that," stated Jones.

It's on record that Nismo plans to release one new production model each year, and with the GT-R Nismo confirmed for 2014, an Altima Nismo could be the next model in 2015 -- and potentially the reason Nissan Australia is holding off launching the pulse-pounding brand locally.

We've previously reported about a hardcore Nismo-tuned Altima, the regular version of which officially goes on sale in Australia on December 1.

But the Nissan Australia chief wouldn't be drawn on the topic, saying only that an HSV-rivalling Altima was being looked at.

"It's one of those things that we haven’t made any decisions on and obviously with all things Nismo we're going to study it [Altima Nismo]. But at this point in time I can't confirm that we're going get it," said Jones.

Nismo President Shoichi Miyatani recently told motoring.com.au that Nismo could be launched in Australia as early as next year, but Jones says he's yet to have a discussion with the Nismo supremo.

"When he [Miyatani] came out and said it, I've got to say he hadn't picked up the phone and spoken to us.

"Our line continues to be there will be a time and place for that, and I think some of the cars we're bringing out now Nismo would enhance -- the JUKE and others, with all the add-ons."

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