Nissan Says The Future GT-R Has “No Clear Plan” — Here’s Why

Nissan is still attempting to determine what the next GT-R should truly be. A couple of years ago, everyone was hoping it would be heading towards a full-electric future after the automaker flaunted the insane Hyper Force concept—a 1,300-plus-horsepower EV that looked like it could have been in a sci-fi game. At that time, Nissan implied that it could hit the streets somewhere around 2030.

Now it feels a lot less certain. In a recent interview with Autocar, Nissan product lead Guillaume Cartier said the company is considering “different routes” for its next GT-R but admitted it doesn’t yet have a plan.

Honestly, that tracks. Many brands have cooled off on their electric sports car plans. Maserati scrapped the idea of an EV MC20, Lotus moderated its EV, which would follow the Emira, and Porsche kept the gas 718 to prolong the life. Which means Nissan reevaluating an all-electric GT-R is not a surprise whatsoever.

Then there is the business reality: The GT-R, for one, doesn’t sell in significant numbers, and Europe has only a handful of lucrative sports car markets. For a company that is making concerted efforts to regroup its lineup, betting full-blown on a niche EV supercar likely isn’t the smartest move.

Yet Nissan knows the GT-R matters. Cartier suggested the next one could be a more exclusive, low-volume model, rather than the “everyday supercar killer” the R35 turned out to be. All in all, the GT-R isn’t dead—no, Nissan is waiting long enough to work out what the next chapter should be like, and that may be a good thing.