First NISMO Performance Centre opens in Australia

Nissan’s performance and motorsport division, NISMO, is expanding its heritage parts and restoration business outside Japan, opening its first international Performance Centre in Melbourne. Located at Ferntree Gully Nissan, it will offer direct factory support to owners of older vehicles as it seeks to leverage its enthusiastic following into greater brand awareness.

To Nissan enthusiasts, the Omori factory is hallowed ground, the headquarters of the brand’s performance and motorsport division NISMO.

Australian owners and fans will now have a direct link to Omori with the opening of a NISMO Performance Centre at Ferntree Gully Nissan – one of the first venues in NISMO’s international expansion.

Sydney will join the fray shortly along with other locations in the Middle East, the United States, the UK and more.

The Performance Centre will offer servicing and upgrades by factory-trained technicians, access to factory-produced heritage parts or even facilitating full vehicle restorations with the Omori factory.

NISMO president and CEO Yutaka Sanada plans to significantly increase the performance division’s global profile, both in terms of new vehicle sales and its heritage operations, announcing Australia’s first Performance Centre as part of a visit to Sydney’s GT-R Festival.

Initially, the focus will be on R32, R33 and R34 Skylines, with other models to follow in due course, including 200SX/Silvias and Z cars.

Australia was chosen as one of the first locations due to its long-standing cultural association with the Skyline GT-R, the size and knowledge of its fan base and increasing demand for NISMO parts.

Nissan estimates seven per cent of R32 GT-R, 20 per cent of R33 GT-R and 36 per cent of R34 GT-R production ended up in Australia, despite only 100 R32 examples officially being imported and sold as factory vehicles in the early-1990s.

Sanada-san’s expansion plans for NISMO include diversifying the lineup, increasing sales from 100,000 to 150,000 units globally and lifting the sales share from 40 to 60 per cent by 2028.

Currently, only the Z NISMO is offered in Australia and that’s unlikely to change in the near future, with other vehicles – specifically the Patrol NISMO and Note Aura NISMO – deemed unsuitable for the local market.

However, Nissan Australia sees a significant business opportunity in providing support to older vehicles, especially as values, of GT-Rs in particular, continue to climb.

NISMO projects the current $4.4 billion global restoration market to grow to more than $10 billion by 2032 and if it doesn’t own this space, a company like Singer will take advantage.

In addition to NISMO’s current heritage parts catalogue, which covers everything from engine blocks to trim clips, the door is open to collaborating with local partners to produce parts.

Another Australian advantage is the existence of Nissan’s casting plant in Dandenong South, that already produces aluminium parts for the global business so meets existing quality and durability standards.

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