Confirmed: The next Nissan GT-R won’t go electric

The next Nissan GT-R won’t adopt an electric powertrain, according to the brand’s product strategy boss, who also said a hybrid version of the legendary supercar is inevitable.

Speaking to Motor1, Nissan global head of product strategy Richard Candler confirmed the upcoming sports car – expected to be unveiled no earlier than 2028 – won’t be an electric vehicle (EV).

“I think what we’ve seen so far is that electric sports cars haven’t been hugely popular,” Mr Candler told Motor1.

“I think they’ll come as better battery technology takes its next leap, but the current lithium chemistries are not capable of producing a GT-R-type product.

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“We’re not going to go with batteries in the next generation – no way.”

It’s a landmark call for the iconic sports car, whose lineage dates back to 1969, with the Skyline GT-R’s racing success in Australia between 1990 and 1992 cementing its place in local and global motoring folklore.

Mr Candler has also been outspoken about wanting to expand Nissan’s sports car lineup, including a next-generation versions of its Z coupe and a revival of the Silvia, which was sold in Australia between 1994 and 2002 as the 200SX.

Nissan has also teased a new-generation Skyline. The GT-R originated as a performance flagship for the Skyline line, before being spun off into a separate model in 2007 – while retaining its signature ‘hot plate’ tail-lights.

For the halo GT-R, Nissan’s former global product lead Pierre Loing – now a company director – said in 2024: “We need to have a gap [in production between R35 and R36], because going into the electrified world, there is a lot of debate about ‘What is a GT-R in an era of electrification?’.”

“We don’t have all the answers yet. We are in the middle of all those debates.”

Those debates now appear settled, with the GT-R confirmed to remain non-EV for its next generation.

However, some level of electrification is inevitable, according to Mr Candler.

“[The GT-R] will have to be electrified because of emissions regulations at some level, of course,” he told Motor1.

“It’s just common sense that you would have a sense of electrification, but the battery’s a limiting factor. The battery chemistry is not strong enough yet to be able to deliver the requirements of the GT-R.”

Nissan North America’s senior vice president and chief planning officer, Ponz Pandikuthira, told The Drive earlier this month the new GT-R “has to be” on a new chassis and will use a powertrain that’s “mostly new”.

“I’d say by 2028 you’ll see some concrete announcements, and hopefully before the decade turns you’ll see an R36 GT-R,” he told the publication.

“If there was a hybrid powertrain, the block of that VR38 engine (which was the engine in the R35 GT-R) is so great. Why would you throw that away? But maybe the way combustions matter needs to be very different. Maybe the heads are very different. Maybe the pistons are very different. So maybe we have to change top end.”

Even though it won’t use an electric powertrain, Mr Pandikuthira told The Drive that Nissan “wants this to be a global car”, which likely means a powertrain that can meet Euro 7 emissions regulations.

It comes as other brands prepare electric performance models. The upcoming BMW M3 is set to be offered with both petrol and electric power, built on separate platforms, while Mercedes-AMG is launching a high-performance EV to slot in alongside its combustion-powered models.

Volkswagen is also planning electric versions of its Polo GTI and Golf GTI hot hatches to be sold alongside petrol variants for as long as emissions laws – and customer demand – allow.

The previous R35 GT-R, sold in Australia between 2009 and 2021, used a 3.8-litre twin-turbocharged petrol V6 engine (VR38DETT), paired exclusively with a six-speed dual-clutch transmission and all-wheel drive.

Each engine was hand-built by ‘Takumi’ master technicians at Nissan’s Yokohama plant in Japan, with around 1000 examples sold locally.

It delivered 0-100km/h in 3.2 seconds when it was revealed in 2007 – around 0.5 seconds quicker than the Porsche 911 GT2 on sale at the time.

Incremental updates saw this reduced to a claimed 2.5 seconds, with outputs peaking at 441kW and 652Nm in the carbon fibre-clad 2020 GT-R NISMO.

The next-generation GT-R, codenamed R36, is expected to debut in 2028, potentially drawing inspiration from the Nissan Hyper Force concept revealed at the Tokyo motor show in 2023, even if it won’t run the show car’s electric powertrain.

Nissan president and CEO Ivan Espinosa said: “We understand the expectations are high, the GT-R badge is not something that can be applied to just any vehicle; it is reserved for something truly special and the R35 set the bar high. So, all I can ask is for your patience.”

A resurgence in interest in sports cars among Japanese brands has seen Honda revive the Prelude after over 20 years. Toyota is also reportedly working on new Celica and MR2 sports cars, neither of which have been offered since the mid-2000s.

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