Nissan GB Takes 700 GT-R Orders in First 48 hours

Nissan GT-R

Additional units requested

By Brian Potter
April 7, 2008 8:02 PM
Filed Under: Japanese, Nissan

When UK order books opened for the GT-R five days ago, 700 customer deposits were taken in the first 48 hours. Paul Willcox, Managing Director Nissan Motor (GB) Limited commented, “The dealer order line lit-up on the 2 April with an unprecedented amount of orders being placed. This clearly demonstrates the UK’s passion for performance cars and the enthusiastic following that the GT-R has established.” As a result, Nissan GB is trying to secure more units from the production facility in Tochigi Japan.

However, this isn't such an easy request since the GT-R isn't your typical volume car where the pace of the assembly line can be adjusted to meet demand. Willcox continues, “...as the engine of the GT-R is built by hand there is a maximum production capability of 1000 units per month. This volume has to satisfy all global demands covering America, Asia and Europe and therefore it will be late May before we know if we have been successful in our request.”

Pricing for the GT-R starts from £52,900 (OTR) and the supercar is available in three trim levels: Base, Premium Edition and Black Edition. First customer deliveries are expected in March 2009. See press release below for order details.

Source: Nissan GB

Press Release (Click to expand)

NISSAN GT-R GOING EVEN FASTER THAN EXPECTED

The Nissan GT-R official order book opened for business on 2 April 2008 and within the first 48 hours nearly 700 customer deposits were received for pre-order reservations.

  • 700 orders received within 48 hours of the order book opening
  • First deliveries expected March 2009
  • Additional supply for UK requested to meet demand

Paul Willcox, Managing Director Nissan Motor (GB) Limited commented: “The dealer order line lit-up on the 2 April with an unprecedented amount of orders being placed. This clearly demonstrates the UK’s passion for performance cars and the enthusiastic following that the GT-R has established.

“Waiting lists are not unusual to have for a vehicle of such high performance, specification and value but there is a limit that people will be prepared to wait. In order to meet demand we are now starting to negotiate vigorously with Nissan Europe to secure further volume from our production facility in Tochigi Japan.”

Willcox went on to explain the complexities of GT-R production: “In normal production terms the pace of the line can be increased or decreased to meet with demand but as the engine of the GT-R is built by hand there is a maximum production capability of 1000 units per month. This volume has to satisfy all global demands covering America, Asia and Europe and therefore it will be late May before we know if we have been successful in our request.”

Pricing for the GT-R starts from £52,900 (OTR) and the supercar is available in three trim levels: Base, Premium Edition and Black Edition. First customer deliveries are expected in March 2009.

HOW TO ORDER
Due to the heavy demand Nissan is encouraging customers to place orders sooner rather than later to avoid disappointment.

To place a reservation for a GT-R, customers can either place an order online at www.gtrnissan.co.uk or visit one of the 10 specialised high performance centres strategically placed around the UK.

For those passionate car enthusiasts who will be signing up for GT-R ownership, there will be a series of tailored customer events and experiences giving them the opportunity to see the car up-close, get to know it and, ultimately, experience its performance before they take delivery. More details of this programme of special, Nissan-supported GT-R customer events will be released in the coming weeks and months.

Nissan High Performance Centres will ensure that GT-R customers receive the level of specialist attention and aftersales care that this special car warrants. They have committed to invest in the specialist sales and technical training for their staff that such a car demands, as well as the highly sophisticated equipment necessary to maintain and repair the GT-R.

The specialist centres have been chosen because they share the passion that customers have for the GT-R, and they have met strict criteria in terms of customer satisfaction, resources and location.

The GT-R boasts an all-new hand-built VR series 3.8-litre twin turbo V6 producing 480 PS (353 kW) at 6,400 rpm and 588 Nm of torque between 3,200 and 5,200 rpm.

Engine power is transmitted to the wheels via an all-new, paddle-shifted GR6 sequential 6-speed dual clutch rear transaxle coupled to an advanced all-wheel drive system. The sequential-shifting transaxle features separate wet clutches for the odd (1,3,5) and even (2,4,6) gears and pre-selects the next highest and next lowest gear for immediate shifts. The driver makes split-second gear-changes via paddles mounted behind the steering wheel.

To underline its supercar credentials, an unmodified GT-R completed a lap of the notoriously demanding Nurburgring circuit in Germany in 7mins 38secs, putting it among the fastest production vehicles to ever have lapped the circuit.

Comments

NitrousOxide
April 7, 2008 9:09 PM
Im wondering, why cant Nissan support the demand by adding more workers?!?! It might really be a disaster for those who wanted the car and couldn't because of the productin limit.. I think that Nissan has done a big mistake by taking this decision.

lelu
April 7, 2008 11:49 PM
The problem is not a lack of workers but a too small factory ;)

Joe_Limon
April 7, 2008 8:16 PM
here is an idea... make 2 or 3 factories... the way this car is selling, it would be worth the investment.

schefar
April 8, 2008 2:10 PM
Absolutely agreed :))

_M7_
April 7, 2008 9:28 PM
Im agree if there are many it will be wired...to many "supercars" on the street XD i think its not a common street car like mercedes or bmw even if its nissan

benz_man
April 7, 2008 11:13 PM
Nissan gambled considerable amounts of money by choosing to build these engines by hand. If they cant build enough, prices will skyrocket on lightly used examples, which will quickly kill the market for the car altogether. If the car doesn't sell well (yeah right! lol) moneys invested in a S-O-T-A engine building facility will be waisted. 12,000 cars a year sounds a little small, but it could be just the right number to keep the GT-R "special" and supply demand per year.

german-cars-lover
April 7, 2008 11:55 PM
The exterior is perfect , but interior is ugly .

alarrosa87
April 8, 2008 12:32 AM
I highly doubt that "Nissan has done a big mistake by taking this decision" Anyone who knows anything about retail is that that this is a fantastic situation for nissan to be in. Firstly they won't have cars clogging up showrooms giving the impression they are unwanted/hard to sell, secondly the fact that it's so tough to get one will mean dealers will not discount as customers will be glad they could actually get one. Plus it also adds a little exclusivity to the model which is somewhat of a rarity for a mainstream volume car manufacturer such as nissan, mitsubishi etc...

m555david
April 7, 2008 11:42 PM
right on the point

benz_man
April 8, 2008 8:36 AM
Nissan has been VERY selective in choosing US dealerships to sell the GT-R for dreaded fear of mark-up. They've even gone as far as creating a dedicated server for keeping transaction prices on every GT-R. If the price of this car is marked up, resale values on ALL of them will flatline. Then, in a year or so when Nissan has finally increased production, they won't even be able to get MSRP for the cars. This just happened to Toyota with there 2nd gen Prius. This isn't Ferrari. Its Nissan. Not a premium brand, no premium resale values.

m555david
April 7, 2008 11:42 PM
ask yourself why ferrari refuses to build more cars? they currently have 2,5 year waiting list for just about every model but 612. Same goes for Nissan. The reasons are obvious, first of all Nissan has struck gold in this niche market and it is good for business to have a waiting list especially in this price bracket. Second of all, don't forget that that world economy is in the slump. Surely, at this point only America experiencing hardship, but don't forget that America accounts for 40% of world consumption of just about everything. Hence, this chain reaction will eventually affect europe at some point. Given this prognosis, it would just be very stupid to build more factories and add more workers and increase the production. remember what happened to Ferrari in early 90's??? ferrari built some 4500 cars in 1991 to meet the crazy demand for yellow horse badged cars and then due to meltdown of global market, the demand fell to a mere 2800 cars 2 years later. And this comparison is very relevant to Nissan, since GT-R is a niche car. So why would nissan repeat this mistake???

ck314
April 8, 2008 1:07 AM
"Base" version comes perfect, but the only inconvenience is that navsys won't be available before sept.09 (wth??) In any case, nearly fully loaded and yet cheaper than the basic 911...

radmeister
April 8, 2008 1:19 AM
Told ya this car would break 20,000 units in the first year. This was just tiny ass UK with 700 in 48hrs, wait till it is released in the US especially with US pricing this thing will be the new ipod, lineups at the dealers.

benz_man
April 8, 2008 8:20 AM
they just said production capacity is 12,000 yearly.

radmeister
April 8, 2008 3:01 PM
Sales and production are 2 different things, they will sell this year for next year too, i doubt dealers will stop taking orders after the 12,000 units are reached, they will take deposits for next year.

Aygo
April 9, 2008 4:45 PM
Erm, hello! The UK is a small island, if it was bigger, the demand would be higher....

benz_man
April 10, 2008 5:45 PM
but then its not "breaking 20,000 units in the first year" is it...

davethepetrolhead
April 8, 2008 8:56 AM
Obviously the 700 ppl that have put a deposit on this POS haven't seen pics of the interior i can't believe how cheap & ugly it is.Cheap plastic pretending to be metal. fake stitching on the dash pretending to be leather. It's clear they spent all the money on the drivetrain then just chucked in a chinese quality interior in.

m555david
April 8, 2008 9:03 AM
Dude, go to the nearest autoshow and check it out first hand before making stupid comments like that. those are real stitches and the quality of the interior is on par with porsche and all the higher priced competitors. here is the quote coming from Car and Driver "seats with extra wide front buckets of perforated leather and anti-slip fabric hat support and comfort, elsewhere in the cockpit, italian-looking finery is present in taut, top-stitched dash upholstery and a leather swathed hand brake fit for a Ferrari." Still think you are smarter?

m555david
April 8, 2008 9:15 AM
my advice to you, expose yourself to the thing called reading, maybe a curtain will come off your eyes and it will add some common sense to you

radmeister
April 8, 2008 3:04 PM
Crack is a hell of a drug eh, the interior on this car is superb, kind of squared but the materials and build quality is top notch, makes the corvette look like a dacia logan.

davethepetrolhead
April 8, 2008 10:52 AM
I have been to a carshow and seen this POS and there is no way the interior is as good a porsche. As for car & driver they not the best source of infomation. And my advice to you is take the "curtains" off your own eyes and see something called free speech which i am entitled to.

m555david
April 8, 2008 10:16 AM
if you have been to the show you wouldn't say that it has fake stitches and fake aluminum. this interior is of high quality materials and logically designed... unlike some other. people that do have deposits for this car placed probably have their homework done properly. there are not many stupid people that can shell out that much money for it. stupid people, although occasionally, don't usually have that much cash on hand, ha ha ha...live and learn

m555david
April 8, 2008 11:32 AM
ooo yeah....and free speech usually means constructive criticism with well defined point. as you have mentioned before, your point was based on the 2 megapixel pictures that you have seen and frankly only "mental cases" will try to tie free speech to ignorance. go visit a nissan dealership and sit in one, then build your case based on free speech...ignorance is a bliss

hofmeyer
April 8, 2008 10:53 AM
nissan doesn't want to flood the market with these cars. in the past japanese supercars have been good, but very expensive. all the makers of the rx-7, supra and the z flooded the market with these cars and they sat on dealer lots. if nissan caps production at 12,000, they ensure a market for this model for a couple years. even though this isn't a ferrari, it is ferrari logic, and it works quite well for ferrari.

amade.ch
April 8, 2008 12:36 PM
how can you say, that the quality of the interior is bad? have you ever touched it? auto bild tested the car together with a 911 turbo. they had to admit that the quality of the interior is identical to the one of the porsche.

garyk1
April 8, 2008 2:36 PM
I don't think 700 people are buying it for the quality of the interior you wont have time to look at the stitching on the seats while driving this one. Have you sat in a Porsche 911 lately, its retro 70's but they still sell.

m555david
April 8, 2008 2:03 PM
on prosto tupoi v dosku. vot i vse

phobos
April 8, 2008 4:44 PM
..who cares about the interior..for GTR the most important thing is it can and will smoke some rich ass porsche fans

benz_man
April 10, 2008 5:49 PM
Until you have to sit in it everyday...

ck314
April 8, 2008 5:14 PM
ah relax on him, anyone calling this fantastic machine a p.o.s. is either on drugs or a corvette/porsche salesman

m555david
April 8, 2008 5:19 PM
no drugs, no salesmen. Just an average IQ of the pretzel.

norther
April 8, 2008 11:28 PM
march 2009....ooooohhh my gooooodd!!! maybe ill die from brain cancer ..or something. but still, ill take it in the grave with me :)))

coopergt
April 9, 2008 1:01 AM
wow great for a Datsun!

andy
April 9, 2008 2:39 AM
i want a left hand drive version of this car ..anyone sees this car on the street yet .? i mean USA and canada ..

radmeister
April 10, 2008 2:34 PM
Not out yet on the site it says summer 08, so there are still a few more months to wait.

wirelessconnect
April 24, 2008 10:47 AM
I was driving last week through Beverly Hills, CA. and saw a silver GTR driving southbound on Coldwater around 9:50PM. It just stood out and sound sweet.

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