Nissan’s CEO emphasizes the importance of sports cars to the lineup, but it may be a minute.
In a statement to media directly following Nissan’s grand unveiling of its forward-looking plans including a new Rogue Hybrid, electric Juke, a new Xterra SUV and a new Skyline sedan, Nissan chief executive Ivan Espinosa said the words enthusiasts have been waiting to hear: “Yes, we are actually already working on the GT-R”.
Ever since the R35-generation GT-R rolled into the history books in August 2025 after a prodigious 18-year production run, folks have been wondering about the follow-up. Other Nissan brass, including Senior VP and Chief Planning Officer for North America Ponz Pandikuthira, noted the nameplate would not die with the R35. So, Espinosa’s latest comment may not be entirely novel, but it is reassuring to those hoping the company won’t lose sight of the sports cars folks have loved for generations, as he aims to turn Nissan around from its current troubles.
Espinosa elaborated on what that will look like in time: “Of course, the sports cars are the core of what we are as a company, so we’ve been there doing that for many generations. And there are multiple nameplates that we could leverage on. If you ask part of my brain, I would love to do that very quickly…but the other part of my brain is telling me that we have to be prudent at the moment, and go step by step. But, for sure we will see more sports cars coming into the portfolio.”
For the moment, he did not directly confirm many technical details on what the next-generation GT-R will be. That’s par for the course, considering it sounds like we’re at least a few years off from an actual R36 hitting the scene (think late-decade, with early looks around 2028 and an actual car by 2029-2030). Nevertheless, Espinosa says that “the GT-R will come, and it will come with credibility and with the credentials that it has always had, because it’s an icon of our company, but also an icon of the industry.”
Alongside the CEO, Nissan Chief Technology Officer Eiichi Akashi was also present, and is the man responsible for the company’s vehicle innovation department. That includes the next-generation GT-R, which should retain some of its notable characteristics in a new generation, while also incorporating new (to its flagship sports car, at least) technologies. The general consensus, at the moment, is that elements of the VR38 twin-turbocharged V6 will remain. In the R36, though, Pandikuthira confirmed it will be hybridized, and it will also be incorporated into the an all-new chassis.
So, while we still may have a little bit of a wait in store, enthusiasts can breathe a little sigh of relief that Godzilla will return. Hopefully we will hear much more about it in the next year or two.
It’s been a minute since we looked at the GT-R, but check out the video below if you want a bit of a refresher into the sports car’s lineage:
