Nissan Skyline GT-R is 'Most iconic Japanese car ever'

Nissan's Skyline GT-R has been named 'the most iconic Japanese car ever' ahead of Europe’s largest celebration of cars from the land of the rising sun.

Japfest takes place on April 24 and to mark its move to the UK's Silverstone circuit for the first time organisers of the show conducted a survey of its social media followers to name the most iconic performance car in Japanese car culture.

The Skyline GT-R emerged as the clear winner of the 'Japanese Icons' poll, ahead of the Toyota Supra and Subaru Impreza WRX.

First produced by the Prince Motor Company in 1955, and later by Nissan after the two companies merged in 1966, the Skyline badge has been applied to a range of models but no longer appears on Nissan's latest supercar flagship, now simply known as the GT-R.

The original Skyline was designed and engineered by Shinichiro Sakurai, who continued to influence various models bearing the name – including the most famous coupe, plus the sedan, wagon, crossover, convertible and even a pick-up -- until his death in 2011.

The first Skyline GT-R was produced between 1969 and 1973, and after a 16-year hiatus returned in 1989. The R32 became known as Godzilla after its giant-killing race performances including winning the Australian Touring Car Championship from 1990 to 1992, before it was excluded from 1993.

The straight turbo-six powered Skyline GT-R gained further notoriety in 1997 as the star of PlayStation's Gran Turismo console game, but production ended in August 2002, after which the latest V6-powered R35 was known simply as the Nissan GT-R.

The Skyline GT-R was produced only in Japan and despite being sold in many nations only as a used Japanese import, became a performance car icon in Western countries like Australia, New Zealand, the US, UK and South Africa.

As such, a bumper turnout of Skylines is expected at this year’s Japfest events, including Japfest Rock! at Rockingham Motor Speedway on June 26 and the new Japfest Motorsport Heroes, which takes place at the Hop Farm near Paddock Wood, Kent on September 11.

"The Nissan Skyline is one of the cars that really kicked off the Japanese tuning craze in the UK, so it’s no surprise to see that it’s been named as the most iconic Japanese performance car of all time," said Japfest Event Manager Katherine Chappell.

"Japfest is a real celebration of the culture that it, in part, created, and we look forward to celebrating its success this year among the event’s festival atmosphere.”

Japfest moved to Silverstone after reaching capacity at the Castle Combe circuit, with more than 16,000 attendees and 3500 cars expected.