After achieving a 48-percent year-on-year increase in sales, Nissan Philippines is now looking to inject some excitement to its line-up. Two years after promising its arrival into the country, NISMO is finally here. And leading the charge is the 2018 Nissan GT-R NISMO, the brand’s highest performance sportscar aimed squarely against high-performance exotic cars.

Retaining the VR38DETT engine, the Nissan GT-R NISMO makes 600 horsepower and 652 Nm of torque—figures which are higher than the “pedestrian” GT-R’s 565 horsepower and 633 Nm of torque. NISMO engineers have unlocked additional performance via a pair of high-flow, large diameter turbochargers which are also used in the GT3 race car. Assembled by meticulously-trained technicians called “takumi”, each engine is hand-assembled in a special clean room with an aluminum plate bearing the engine craftsman’s name.



More than just raw power, the GT-R NISMO gains new styling and aerodynamics. In fact, Nissan says that the GT-R NISMO produces the most downforce of any of its production cars to date. The GT-R NISMO gets a unique front bumper with a carbon-fiber reinforced splitter that extends out beyond the bodywork to help route air to the front wheels. The layers of carbon fiber are carefully overlapped to achieve the ideal level of stiffness. In addition, the dark chrome V-motion grille has been enlarged to provide better engine cooling. Finally, a reinforced hood avoids deformation at high speeds allowing the GT-R NISMO to keep its aerodynamic shape.

Completing the mechanical changes, the GT-R NISMO sports special driver-adjustable Bilstein dampers along with NISMO-tweaked springs, stabilizers, and shock absorbers. At each corner it gets exclusive 20-inch NISMO Ray forged wheels. Overall, these tweaks results in a more accurate and flexible suspension with better grip.



Inside, the GT-R NISMO gets its dashboard, steering wheel, and center armrest covered in Alcantara leather; and unique to this variant, leather-appointed Recaro carbon fiber bucket seats with red Alcantara inserts.

The arrival of the GT-R NISMO spells the arrival of more NISMO performance variants and aftermarket parts. Announcements about this will be made at a later time. For now though, the 2018 Nissan GT-R NISMO is now available for orders at the Nissan High-Performance Center on Quezon Avenue with an SRP of P 13,200,000.