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LEGO Speed Champions Family Welcomes 2020 Nissan GT-R NISMO Set

Care to guess how old the R35 is today? The two-door coupe sports car with all-wheel drive and one of the best V6 powerplants in the automotive industry will turn 12 years old in December 2019, and despite its elderliness, Godzilla continues to fascinate.
Lego Speed Champions 2020 Nissan GT-R Nismo set 20 photos
Photo: Nissan; Lego
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The NISMO is the highest tier available for the 2020 model year, packing no fewer than 600 horsepower and 481 pound-feet of torque for the mind-boggling price of $212,435 in the United States of America. Part of the reason the NISMO is so bloody expensive is the GT3 racecar know-how, from which the road-going model gets its pair of turbochargers.

For those reasons and many more, LEGO decided to add the R35 GT-R in NISMO flavor to the company’s Speed Champions lineup.

All told, 298 pieces are included in the set, and while it may not come as a perfect replica of the original, LEGO’s whiz kids have recreated crucial elements of the vehicle. These include the quad tailpipes, ginormous rear wing, unmistakable front grille, wheel design, LED daytime running lights, as well as the circular taillamps.

The average builder can put the toy car together in about an hour or so, and LEGO estimates that expert builders need 20 minutes to complete it. The Danish company also claims that it took about a year for the project to evolve from the drawing board to production.

Nissan is the first Japanese automaker to team up with LEGO, and many GT-R owners can trace their automotive passion back to when they were kids playing with building blocks.

“Everyone can be a takumi,” said Nissan vice-president Asako Hoshino. “Working with the LEGO Group was like awakening my inner 10-year-old self to rediscover what makes the GT-R so special to me," added Hiroshi Tamura, chief product specialist for the R35.

There’s no price tag available for the time being, but Nissan did confirm that the first shipments of the LEGO-sized NISMO will arrive at retailers in January 2020. Because it features fewer pieces than other Speed Champions set, the GT-R should also be more affordable.
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About the author: Mircea Panait
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After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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