To celebrate the Nissan GT-R and Italdesign's 50th birthday, the Italian design firm and Japanese automaker collaborated to birth the GT-R50. Described as a GT-R with no limits, both parties crafted a sculpted Japanese sports car with finesse only Italdesign is capable of.
A new video from Nissan documents how the car actually came to life, and we now know Italdesign first approached Nissan to take on the project, Alonso Albaisa, senior vice president of Nissan global design, confirmed. Italdesign invited him to its booth at the 2017 Geneva auto show where it presented the proposition. From there, Nissan began to etch a GT-R without boundaries, and Italdesign ensured the wild design translated to the real world.
Nissan GT-R50 by Italdesign
The goal was to marry the idea of Japanese technology and racing with the passion found in Italian design. Evidently, we believe the teams succeeded. The front fascia sports a catfish-like grille similar to the current R35 generation GT-R, but opens even wider and features a distinct golden element that opens up fully at the rear. The headlights are slimmer and stretch from the wheel arch to above the cooling intakes; the hood's power bulge swells; and the roof was lowered about two inches for a sleeker shape.
Nissan GT-R50 by Italdesign
Back to the rear, designers worked to create a "car within a car" look. The aforementioned gold element is completely exposed at the GT-R50's rear and the rear window line sweeps deeper than the regular GT-R. Signature circular GT-R taillights adorn the rear, but appear to float.
Incredibly, the car is completely hand-built after starting life as a standard GT-R Nismo. Engineers cut the frame and plucked pieces from the original car to modify for the GT-R50's final design. Advanced, technical, and romantic are three words Albaisa uses in the video.
If we're lucky, we may see 50 examples built to celebrate both birthdays. That's if sticker shock doesn't turn buyers away; the price could be as high as $1.06 million.
