The striking Nissan GT-R50 was developed in collaboration with Italdesign. It debuted at the 2018 Goodwood Festival of Speed. It is currently on a world showcase tour, stopping over at Dubai before continuing further.
What is the Nissan GT-R50 all about?
Nissan and renowned Italian design studio Italdesign Giugiaro are both celebrating fifty years of their respective milestones. The GT-R badge is now officially half a century old, and Italdesign is celebrating its fiftieth year in business in 2019. Which is precisely why the GT-R50 wears its moniker as such.
Italdesign has had a successful run until now, with its designs being approved by automotive giants like Ferrari, Aston Martin, Alfa Romeo, BMW, Chevrolet, Audi, Ford, Bugatti, Jaguar, Lotus, Maserati, Oldsmobile, Proton, Suzuki, SEAT, and Fiat. The list of concept and production cars penned by the design studio is nothing short of impressive.
Capturing the essence of the Nissan GT-R50
The GT-R has now become synonymous with certain key design elements. The twin round taillamps are the most prominent, and Italdesign has made sure they are unmistakable on the GT-R50's rear fascia. The donor car for this project was the R35 GT-R, so naturally, the GT-R50 wears a similar front fascia, tweaked to look more futuristic. The interior is cloaked in carbon fibre, and features delightful minimalism, harking back to the GT-R cars of old.
A Nissan GT-R is not worthy of its nameplate if it does not boast of ridiculous amounts of horsepower from a seemingly tiny powerplant. The Nissan GT-R50 does not lack in that department either. At its heart lies a stonking 3.8-litre twin-turbocharged V6 engine that makes a whopping 720hp.
The price of personalisation
Nissan is not numbering individual cars of the lot, instead taking a more interesting approach. Each GT-R50 leaving the factory will be unique, with each car tied to a specific year of the GT-R's history. The car will feature bespoke elements reflecting the year of choice. Nissan is also maintaining a database of customer choices to make sure no two GT-R50s are the same.
The price to all this exclusivity and breathtaking specifications? Each Nissan GT-R50 costs AED 4.1 million, before taxes and options. Given the nature of bespoke elements that could be added to the car, we are looking at a real-world price tag of way more than the one we quoted. And the few lucky customers that indeed have booked the exquisite car will have to wait until April 2020 before deliveries begin, for hand-building one of these requires eight weeks.
