Nissan Unleashes `Godzilla' to Fight Porsche, Ferrari (Update1)
2007-10-24 02:49 (New York)


(Adds engine specifications in 18th paragraph)

By Terje Langeland and Kiyori Ueno
Oct. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Nissan Motor Co. will unleash a more
powerful version of its GT-R sports car in Japan to take on
Porsche AG, and Fiat SpA's Ferrari and Maserati.
The GT-R, which starred in the Sony PlayStation video game
``Gran Turismo'' and the movie ``2 Fast 2 Furious,'' features a
3.8-liter engine and a G-force gauge, earning the nickname
`Godzilla' on fan Web sites. Japan's third-largest carmaker
unveiled the sports car today at the Tokyo Motor Show and will
begin domestic sales in December.
Nissan, Toyota Motor Corp. and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. are
all introducing new sports models at this year's show to halt
the defection of customers to European brands. The Japanese
carmakers will try to win over muscle-car enthusiasts like 45-
year-old physician Ryuhei Sukegawa.
``European sports cars have a sophistication, tradition and
style that Japanese makers don't have,'' said Sukegawa, who runs
a clinic in central Tokyo and bought his second Aston Martin, a
V8 Vantage, in January for 17.6 million yen ($154,000).
U.K.-based Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd., Stuttgart, Germany-
based Porsche, and Turin-based Fiat's Maserati and Ferrari
divisions all boosted their Japan sales in the first nine months
of this year, according to figures released by the Japan
Automobile Importers Association.
By contrast, domestic sales of leading Japanese sports
models fell, according to data from the Japan Automobile Dealers
Association.

Domestics vs. Imports

Overall car sales in Japan are declining as the country's
shrinking population ages and as wages have fallen about 10
percent in the past decade. Sales fell for 26 of the past 27
months, according to the auto dealers association.
The decline includes domestically made sports cars. Sales of
Nissan's 306-horsepower, 3.5-liter Fairlady Z, known abroad as
the Z, dropped 5.2 percent in the first nine months of this year.
Mazda Motor Corp. sold 12 percent fewer of its rotary-engine RX-
8, and sales of Honda Motor Co.'s 2.2-liter S2000 fell 27
percent.
Imported sports cars, by comparison, gained in popularity.
Porsche, the maker of 911 and Cayman cars, sold 3,252 vehicles
in the nine-month period, up 17 percent from a year earlier.
``I love the speed,'' said Hidefumi Jinnai, a 42-year-old
oil-company employee who bought his first Porsche, a used 993
Carrera, in January and likes to take it for midnight spins on
Tokyo's highways.
Ferrari, maker of the F430, sold 327 cars in Japan through
Sept. 30 this year, up 9 percent from a year earlier. Aston
Martin, best known as James Bond's favored brand, increased
sales 14 percent to 191, while Maserati, maker of the
GranTurismo, sold 366 cars, up 17 percent.
From 2003 to 2006, Porsche's Japan sales rose 78 percent
while Maserati's almost tripled and Aston Martin's quadrupled.

`Japan's Mustang'

The new GT-R will take on the imports with a starting price
of 7.7 million yen ($67,000). The model is a revival of Nissan's
Skyline GT-R series, made from 1969 to 2002.
``It's a longstanding and legendary name plate for sports
cars,'' said Karl Brauer, editor in chief of the Edmunds.com
automotive Web site, based in Santa Monica, California.
``Culturally, it's kind of like Japan's Mustang.''
Previous versions gained a global following even as they
were sold mainly in Japan. The new model will be sold in markets
worldwide.
John Fuggles, a 43-year-old sales manager in London,
planned to fly to Tokyo this week to witness the new GT-R's
release. Fuggles, who races his R33 version of the model, said
fans prefer the GT-R's power over the aesthetics of European
sports cars.
``Ferrari is an art and a sculpture,'' he said. ``We are
looking for technology.''

GT-R vs. 911 Turbo

The 480-horsepower GT-R features a 3.8-liter V6 engine and
is capable of accelerating from 0 to 100 kilometers (62 miles)
an hour in 3.6 seconds, Nissan said today. The 480-horsepower
Porsche 911 Turbo Tiptronic S, which starts from $130,000, can
accelerate from 0 to 60 miles an hour in 3.4 seconds, according
to the manufacturer.
At about half the cost, ``you're going to get a car with
the same performance as a Porsche 911,'' said Brauer of
Edmunds.com.
Other Japanese automakers are also introducing new muscle
cars at the Tokyo Motor Show.
Toyota will exhibit its 5-liter, 400-horsepower Lexus IS F,
which goes on sale Dec. 25 in Japan from 7.66 million yen.
Mitsubishi Motors will show its Lancer Evolution X, which went
on sale in the country Oct. 1 and starts at 3 million yen.

Sales Target

While profit margins on sports cars are higher than those
of other models, they won't make a significant impact on
earnings for carmakers like Nissan or Toyota.
``The new GT-R won't boost overall profit at all because
the number of units it will sell are too small,'' said Atsushi
Kawai, a senior analyst at Mizuho Investors Securities Co. in
Tokyo.
Nissan aims to sell 200 GT-R cars a month in Japan. The
first three months of production are already sold out, Chief
Executive Carlos Ghosn said in an interview at the motor show
today. ``Demand is very strong,'' he said.
The model is likely aimed at driving up traffic at
dealerships, said Koichi Sugimoto, an analyst at Merrill Lynch
Japan Securities Co. in Tokyo.
``It's like the 100 million yen diamond in the window of
the department store,'' Sugimoto said. ``Even if no one buys it,
it gets attention.''

--With reporting by Makiko Kitamura, Naoko Fujimura and Mike
Firn in Tokyo and Alan Ohnsman in Los Angeles. Editor: Okeson
(akm/bco)

To contact the reporters on this story:
Terje Langeland in Tokyo at +81-3-3201-3471 or
tlangeland1@bloomberg.net;
Kiyori Ueno in Tokyo at +81-3-3201-3844 or
kueno2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Bret Okeson at +81-3-3201-8335 or
bokeson@bloomberg.net

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#<509266.545474.1.0.60.17559.25>#
-0- Oct/24/2007 06:49 GMT


 

wow - 27% drop in S2000 sales in Japan - our baby is dying out

 

makes me sad when asian people outright glorify european products even though they are usually inferior in reliability.

 

GT-R is pretty sick if you ask me. No offence, I'd pick the new GT-R over the S2000 anyday, but not now. Maybe when I graduate from college which in about 2 years. Hmmm.... That's when the new GT-R comes too. HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA.

 

Actually it seems the R8 is the car to have right now. It's been surprisingly praised by everyone that is usually a huge critic. I know it's ~$20k difference (maybe I'm wrong) but if you go for it, might as well go all the way.

 

Flame suit on: R8 is really not that great (relatively) when it comes to performance, at least based on what I saw in Top Gear It's a bit on the lower end of the supercar spectrum imo. It's not even that much faster than an old Carrera S. I'm not even talking about the turbo here.

The GTR, on the other hand, is a total beast when it comes to performance. Nissan engineers have really done their homework, and Nissan marketing has also made the ENTIRE world aware that the GTR is back. They have really done a great job. But one thing I don't get ... What's with the GTR interior???? It's looks dated before it even came out ...

Anyway, sadly, the S2000 sales only heading south ...

 

Interesting read.

 

Wow, I thought the Japanese had a stigma towards buying a used car.

 

Did we see the same Top Gear? Jeremy said the car was perfect. Not sure what you were smoking

Can't wait for the to test the GTR. You know that will be fun but prolly won't happen until at least next season.

BTW: Grant Turismo 5 demo came out on PS3 and the GTR and STI were unveiled today through the game via a very elaborate display. It's so cool. They also announced that the Top Gear track is going to be available in GT5 as well as downloadable episodes from the show on GTTV. Can it get any better? The game is somewhat disappointing though. Forza2 wins with the damage factor.

http://www.gtchannel.com/content.php?cid=9260

http://www.gtplanet.net/

 

Haha ya, it's the same one. I was referring to the lap times in particular. The R8 was merely 2 seconds faster than the older (Carrera) S ... and I believe the R8 is slower than a lot of other cars on the board of similar class (i.e. the supercar class hehe)

Anyway ... I was just hoping the R8 would be a bit more hardcore or better in performance. Maybe that'll be the V10 model's case ...