Hybrid Nissan R36 GT-R Co-Development with Honda NSX Possible

The next-generation Nissan GT-R is set to come with hybrid technology, and it could be co-developed alongside an all-new Honda NSX.

Less than two months after production ended for the R35 GT-R, a senior executive at Nissan has confirmed the Japanese supercar won’t be going fully electric when it eventually arrives, with hybrid technology to instead be employed to lower emissions and fuel consumption.

Senior Vice President and Chief Planning Officer for Nissan North America, Pons Pandikuthira, told US website The Drive solid-state batteries are expected to be ready by the time the new-generation GT-R enters production – but in a hybrid system.

“No, [with] electric, I don’t think you’ll deliver with the technology that we have now – or even with solid state [batteries] – the kind of performance that’s expected out of a GT-R,” he told The Drive.

“We are going to have a certain level of electrification there,” Pandikuthira said, adding “solid-state batteries will be the key enabler to make that happen.”

However, the Nissan executive confirmed the GT-R wouldn’t be a plug-in hybrid with the battery technology currently available to the market.

“Think about a plug-in hybrid and you do two or three laps of the Nürburgring and you’re running out of juice. Then that car is not really working (at full power),” but eluded to solid-state batteries being able to provide the best of both worlds.

“If I was given an ideal, I’d like a GT-R that I could drive for say 70 miles (113km) or so on all-electric range, putzing around town,” Pandikuthira said.

“The whole point of the GT-R is this isn’t a car that you drive only on special occasions. You want to drive your kids to school, you go to the grocery store, whatever your local driving, you actually got an EV.”

With all the recent talk of a potential merger between Nissan and Honda, Pandikuthira confirmed the two iconic models could be co-developed to help save money.

“Can we do a next-generation NSX and GT-R off the same platform, make the NSX authentic to what it stands for and make a GT-R authentic to what it stands for? So they are not clones?” Pandikuthira asked The Drive, rhetorically.

“Can you co-develop two cars like that? I think we can.”