Photo: Nissan
Earlier this week, it has come to our attention that Nissan stopped selling the GT-R in its home market. That’s not all they did, because they are no longer investing in internal combustion engines either, as their hopes lie in solid-state batteries that will be ready for production in roughly six years.
So, what about their Nismo sub-brand of performance machines? Funny you should ask, because the answer came directly from Guillaume Cartier, Nissan’s chairman of Europe, who spoke to Top Gear on the topic during the Formula E race in Monaco last weekend.
“Nismo is an asset that we have, and that’s something we want to revitalize. And will we have some, let’s say, cars with the derivative Nismo? The answer is yes,” said Cartier. "The point is, it’s not a gimmick. To use an English expression, it’s not lipstick on a pig. So that requires some investment to make sure that you bring performance.”
But what kind of investment are they talking about, and what should we expect from future zero-emission cars featuring the Nismo suffix? Again, the answer came from the Nissan official, who added: “Here it’s relatively easy to understand: specific suspension and powertrain. The point on Ariya, it’s a challenge because already we have a big battery with high performance. So we need to go higher than that.”
The Japanese company has a few aces up its sleeve when it comes to the development of its next-gen battery-electric vehicles that will add the Nismo name. For example, Nissan now owns e.dams, the company responsible for its Formula E team, with the reins held by Guillaume Cartier, Tommaso Volpe, global motorsports director, and the chief of Nismo, Takao Katagiri. Thus, like it or not, everything points to zero-emission Nismos in Nissan's future. But what kind of models would you want to become part of the performance sub-brand?
“Nismo is an asset that we have, and that’s something we want to revitalize. And will we have some, let’s say, cars with the derivative Nismo? The answer is yes,” said Cartier. "The point is, it’s not a gimmick. To use an English expression, it’s not lipstick on a pig. So that requires some investment to make sure that you bring performance.”
But what kind of investment are they talking about, and what should we expect from future zero-emission cars featuring the Nismo suffix? Again, the answer came from the Nissan official, who added: “Here it’s relatively easy to understand: specific suspension and powertrain. The point on Ariya, it’s a challenge because already we have a big battery with high performance. So we need to go higher than that.”
The Japanese company has a few aces up its sleeve when it comes to the development of its next-gen battery-electric vehicles that will add the Nismo name. For example, Nissan now owns e.dams, the company responsible for its Formula E team, with the reins held by Guillaume Cartier, Tommaso Volpe, global motorsports director, and the chief of Nismo, Takao Katagiri. Thus, like it or not, everything points to zero-emission Nismos in Nissan's future. But what kind of models would you want to become part of the performance sub-brand?
Google News