Nissan Australia has been forced to slay Godzilla.
Australian Design Rules (ADRs) for side impact collisions mean the Nissan GT-R can’t be imported to Australia from October 31, 2021.
That spells the end of the R35 GT-R in Australia after more than a decade on sale.
A statement from Nissan Australia is published in full at the end of this story.
The culprit? New ADR 85 side-impact regulations. They came into force for new vehicles introduced to Australia in 2017, but will apply to all passenger cars from later in 2021.
The GT-R doesn’t meet the new rules, and Nissan isn’t going to make structural changes to its low-volume halo for a market as small as Australia. It’s not clear if the GT-R structure could actually be changed to meet the rules at all.
Just 937 cars have been sold since it launched in 2009, an average of less than 100 per year.
Nissan Australia hasn’t confirmed how it will send off the R35 GT-R, but it has confirmed the 2022 model revealed today in Japan will make it Down Under in some form.
It’s likely a variation of the GT-R T-Spec will be imported prior to November 1 in limited numbers.
Revealed today in Japan, T-Spec is another update for the GT-R initially revealed in 2007, and debuted in Australia during 2009.
It’s not clear when the current R35 GT-R will be replaced with an all-new model, although reports from Japan suggest an R36 is will succeed it at some point.
In Japan, Midnight Purple and Millennium Jade are being added to the colour palette on the T-Spec.
Both are throwbacks sure to make enthusiasts excited. Nissan says it considered doing new grey or blue colours, before committing to something more exciting.
The Premium Edition T-Spec rides on bronze Rays forged alloy wheels, and rides on a tweaked suspension designed to make the most of the car’s lower unsprung weight.
Meanwhile, the T-Spec Track Edition gets a carbon fibre roof and boot lid, and rides on black wheels instead of the bronze Premium Edition units.
In Japan, just 100 examples of each will be offered through a lottery in Japan.
Power comes from the VR38DETT twin-turbo 3.8-litre V6 engine, and is sent to all four wheels through a six-speed dual-clutch transmission and sophisticated all-wheel drive system.
Nissan hasn’t confirmed outputs for the T-Spec, but the current GT-R has 419kW of power and 632Nm of torque.
The track-oriented GT-R Nismo ups those outputs to 441kW and 652Nm.
Nissan Australia statement
Due to the implementation of Australia’s unique pole side impact design rules (ADR 85), the Nissan GT-R will not be imported into the Australian market after October 31, 2021.
Note that this regulation does not apply to existing models in other markets.
MORE: Everything Nissan GT-R
