Nissan has traditionally billed the GT-R as an “affordable supercar,” the price tag for a 2019 model starting at $99,990. But if you’re interested in the special edition 50th anniversary model that the Japanese automaker has now confirmed for production, beware that you’ll have to add another zero at the end of that sticker price.
First revealed last June in concept form, the Nissan GT-R50 by Italdesign will move right up there with some of the more expensive supercars on the market at a price tag starting 990,000 euros, the automaker says – a figure that, at current exchange rates works out to a cool $1,129,498.92.
“The car’s exterior is virtually unchanged from the prototype first shown in July at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in England,” notes a company release detailing its collaboration with Turin, Italy-based Italdesign.
There are a few differences, Nissan notes, adding that “While the prototype vehicle was finished in a special gray with gold accents, customers will be able to specify their preferred color combinations for the production version. They also will be able to choose interior colors and packages.”
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Getting those added options may help explain why the production version of the GT-R50 has come in about 100,000 euros above original expectations.
To be sure, this isn’t just any everyday version of the GT-R. For one thing, it has been specially tuned by NISMO, Nissan’s performance division, its engine outfitted with larger turbos derived from the automaker’s GT3 race car. There are also more aggressive cams, bigger intercoolers and other modifications.
That all adds up to a 110 horsepower and 94 pound-foot bump, the 3.8-liter V-6 in the production GT-R50 set to punch out a full 710 hp and 575 lb-ft of torque.
The engine is mated to an upgraded six-speed dual-clutch transmission reinforced to survive repeated hard launches. The differentials and driveshaft are similarly armored.
Beyond the under-hood improvements, the Nissan GT-R50 gets a continuously variable Bilstein damping system and other suspension improvements and much beefier Brembo brakes.
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If that isn’t enough to whet your appetite – while also draining your bank account – consider that you aren’t likely to see another one of these very often. In fact, Nissan says it will build, appropriately enough, only 50 of the special-edition, Italdesign models, one for each year. It’s unclear how they will be distributed but look for Europe and Asia to get the lion’s share.
“How often do you get to ask, ‘What if we created a GT-R without limits,’ and then actually get to build it?” Alfonso Albaisa, Nissan’s senior vice president for global design, asked when the GT-R50 was first revealed last summer.
The other, unspoken question was how many buyers might there be for a specially modified, in-your-face version of the GT-R costing 10 times more than the stock model? Apparently, the answer was “enough.”
“The reaction from Nissan fans around the world – and potential customers of the GT-R50 – has greatly exceeded our expectations,” said Bob Laishley, global sports car program director at Nissan. “These 50 cars, which celebrate 50 years of the GT-R as well as 50 years of Italdesign, will be rolling tributes to Nissan’s engineering leadership and rich sports car heritage for a long time to come.”
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Coincidentally, it’s not just the GT-R’s 50th anniversary being celebrated with the special model. Its launch also coincides with the golden anniversary designer Giorgetto Giugiaro opened Italdesign itself.
