Nissan may just have announced that it's cutting 1,200 jobs in Sunderland as a result of the ongoing car sales slump, but it's business as usual at its Japanese home.
Lock up Barrow-in-Furness bus depot - Godzilla has arrived. This is the Nissan GT-R specV, a bonkers limited production iteration of the Japanese supercar that seems to have been out for decades, despite not yet officially reaching the UK.
Due to go on sale in Japan next month, Nissan says the specV is 'targeted specifically at enthusiast drivers who desire race car-level performance in a street-legal vehicle.' We thought that was what the standard GT-R did, but apparently this one takes things to 'an entirely new level of oneness between man and machine.' Quite.
It does that by using loads of carbon fibre. There's a carbon rear spoiler, grille and front brake vents on the outside, and inside there's a pair of Recaro carbon fibre seats and carbon trim spattered everywhere. It also gets lightweight forged aluminium wheels, a titanium exhaust and fade-resistant carbon ceramic brakes.
A significant mechanical change is the boost control device that gives a bit of extra shove from the twin turbos in the mid range (as if it were needed), which has the useful secondary function of reducing the engine's operating speed for better economy. There's no official data yet, but expect to see a few tenths shaved off the standard car's time-warping 3.5 second 0-62mph time.
What's more, the select group of dealers that sell it in Japan are all trained specifically in the art of specV, and know a thing or two about circuit driving too, so you can ask them about your racing line as well as how to find the fuel filler cap release handle.
Most exciting, though, is that Nissan UK told Car Enthusiast it's hoping to bring a few specVs to the UK in an official capacity this year. Needless to say, our fantasy long termer list has just grown by one.
