Nissan R36 GT-R: Godzilla could evolve into electric family car

The Nissan GT-R has evolved significantly over its life, but its biggest step may be yet to come.

Japanese website Best Car Web says the next GT-R, likely known as the R36, will debut in 2028.

Rather than a turbocharged six-cylinder engine, the Japanese outlet claims the next GT-R will be powered by an electric powertrain and solid-state batteries. We’d wager that powertrain will be all-wheel drive, given face-melting traction from an advanced all-wheel drive system has become a GT-R staple.

Along with the switch from petrol to electric power, the R36 could see the GT-R adopt a four-door body style akin to the Porsche Taycan or Audi e-tron GT.

There is precedent for a four-door GT-R, with a sedan body style offered in some generations of the Skyline GT-R.

Nissan R35 GT-R

Nissan has made a significant bet on solid state batteries, and previous comments point to the first vehicle fitted with the potentially game-changing technology for the brand debuting in 2028.

It earlier this year officially unveiled its prototype solid-state battery production facility at its Research Centre in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.

As announced at its Nissan Ambition 2030 event in November 2021, Nissan is aiming to launch an electric vehicle (EV) with its proprietary all-solid-state batteries (ASSBs) in fiscal year 2028.

Nissan plans to establish a pilot production line at its Yokohama production plant in fiscal year 2024 using the materials, design and manufacturing processes from the prototype production facility.

It says the cost of its solid-state batteries can be reduced to $75 per kWh in fiscal year 2028 and to $65 per kWh thereafter, which will bring costs of ASSB-equipped vehicles into parity with internal-combustion engine (ICE) vehicles.

Nissan also previously announced it’s leading development of solid-state batteries for its Alliance partners, Renault and Mitsubishi.

At its Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance 2030 roadmap, the Alliance said it plans to spend €23 billion ($A33.38 billion) in the next five years on electrification, and hopes to achieve a total of 220GWh battery production capacity for EVs by 2030.

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