NISMO finally confirmed for Australia

A $299,000 price (plus on-road costs) has been announced for the GT-R NISMO, which will lead the introduction of Nissan’s global performance arm in Australia in February 2017.

The price is $110,000 higher than the entry-level Premium Edition ($189,000 plus on-road costs) version of the upgraded MY17 GT-R released last month, when a NISMO-tuned Track Edition variant topped the range at a new price benchmark of $227,000 plus ORCs.

Logical competition for Australia's first full-blown NISMO version of the all-wheel drive super-coupe – on either a price or performance basis -- would include various Porsche 911s, the Audi R8, Mercedes-AMG GT S and Jaguar's F-TYPE SVR.

The MY17 GT-R NISMO launch will be followed within 12 months by the launch of a second model, most likely the 370Z NISMO.

Nissan Australia managing director Richard Emery, who today officially the Nismo brand’s arrival in Australia after years of delays and speculation, defended the pricing of the GT-R NISMO.

“The car is somewhat hand-built and there is an extensive use of carbon-fibre,” he said. “But it’s not just the physical upgrades of the vehicle, it’s the way it’s put together and built [that] we believe more than covers the pricepoint, particularly when you consider what the vehicle offers in terms of performance, specification and componentry from the GT3 racing car.”

The 2017 Nissan GT-R NISMO features a 441kW/652Nm version of the VR38DETT engine, and uses the same pair of high-flow, large-diameter turbochargers as the GT-R GT3 race car. The recently updated three-model mainstream GT-R range makes 419kW and 632Nm.

Emery also revealed the GT-R NISMO would initially only be available in limited numbers to ‘true believers’.

“In the initial 12 to 18 months we have prioritised our communication with some of our key clients, GT-R loyal owners. We will be communicating with them over the next month or so.

“I would suspect our loyal customers that we have are probably going to swallow up the first-year allocation. In terms of free supply for clients outside that environment we are probably talking about calendar year 2018.

“Is there going to be enough supply in the initial year to two years in terms of enquiry and customer orders? Probably not, but I don’t think we will be far off the sort of allocation we require to keep our loyal GT-R customers happy.”

Emery also confirmed a second NISMO model will be launched by February 2018. He said it would be based on a more mainstream model already sold in Australia.

It will most likely be the 370Z NISMO sports coupe. The other option is the JUKE NISMO RS.

“We want to ensure we have a NISMO product plan that just didn’t deliver one car,” Emery said. “So certainly our aspirations are for GT-R to be joined by additional models over the following years.”

The launch of the NISMO brand will coincide with the 2017 Bathurst 12 Hour sports car race at Mount Panorama, where two factory-entered Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 entries will aim to repeat the GT-R’s 2015 victory.

NISMO cars will initially be sold through 12 Nissan high-performance (GT-R) dealers, with the potential to expand the representation to 20 over the next 18 months.

Emery, who understands the benefits a performance brand can bring via his previous experience at Mercedes-Benz working with AMG, said the launch of NISMO would provide “an emotional connection” to the Nissan brand that had been missing in Australia.

“It’s well known, particularly among younger generations -- let’s call it the PlayStation generation,” he said. “We have obviously prepared the ground for this with our Supercars motorsport program and our GT3 program over the last few years. It has been a process of preparation and planning.”

Emery played down any chance of NISMO models being anything other than full-on performance cars, such as option packs or accessories.

“NISMO can’t be around spoilers, alloy wheels and a stripe. It needs to be embedded in real performance offerings with a NISMO badge and that’s clearly where our first focus is for the initial years.”

He attributed the years of false starts to NISMO’s need to do global launch homework, making sure it has the research and development and production capacity to develop, manufacturer and service an expanding range.

“It was making sure the timing was right, that we didn’t launch and have a false start or a long gap before expanding the product offering. So we think now is the right time … we can see the follow-up and see the future of the line-up into the near future.”