Nissan Confirms Next-Gen Hybrid GT-R Is Coming Fairly Soon

A next-generation Nissan GT-R has been talked about for years, as the previous gen stretched its lifecycle out after originally debuting all the way back in 2007 (with plenty of updates over the years, of course). The big question has been whether the time is right for the iconic V6 sports car to go fully electric. Well, the answer is a solid no, at least for now, and the timeline for the next GT-R’s arrival may be as short as three years.

A Hybrid Debate Over The Next GT-R

Nissan’s Senior Vice President and Chief Planning Officer for Nissan North America, Ponz Pandikuthira, confirmed to The Drive at the 2025 New York Auto Show that the next-gen model of the iconic Godzilla will retain a turbocharged V6 powertrain, supplemented in some way by a battery pack and at least one electric motor. The automaker has not decided yet whether the car will be a mild-hybrid like the next BMW M3 or a plug-in hybrid, as it weighs the benefits of each when paired with the upcoming next-gen solid-state battery tech that Nissan is also developing.

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A next-gen GT-R has been a safe assumption since at least April of last year, when Pandikuthira first noted that the nameplate would stick around for a return eventually. Nissan’s new CEO, Ivan Espinosa, has also since confirmed the GT-R would likely return. The company has since reportedly developed fully-electric test mules for the next-gen GT-R, but it didn’t seem to like the results, according to the Nissan exec.

An Electric Nissan GT-R Just Doesn’t Work Yet

“You just built a thing to check that box that you have a GT-R, but it’s not really a GT-R,” Pandikuthira told The Drive. “No, electric, I don’t think you’ll deliver with the technology that we have now, or even with solid state, the kind of performance that’s expected out of a GT-R.”

Next-Gen GT-R Requirements

The exec noted that such a car would only be able to complete maybe one lap of the famed Nürburgring test track in Germany before having to cool down and recharge for an extended period of time, which isn’t appealing to the company’s engineers, who want to retain the car’s reputation as a track-lapping monster. The GT-R once bested the Porsche 911 on the ‘Ring, so the company is proud of that track heritage.

“[It] might be alright for other electric cars that you could do that are cruising around, need to be seen at a country club, but the ultimate raw performance GT-R as an electric car, that’s really quite a ways away,” Pandikuthira said. “If I was given an ideal, I’d like a GT-R that I could drive for say 70 miles or so on all-electric range, putzing around town,” noting that current solid-state tech set to debut around 2028 should only require around a 30 kWh battery pack, which will be a smaller package compared to current battery tech.

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Expect A New GT-R Pretty Soon

The solid-state battery tech will likely be paired with a version of the V6 powering the new Nissan Armada SUV, which is expected to clear regulatory emissions approval through at least 2032. “If I had to put a timeline out there, next three to five years for the new GT-R,” Pandikuthira said, so by the end of the decade, or 2030.

Source: The Drive