Electrification has turned the automotive industry on its head. Die-hard petrol-heads have been blindsided left and right by the constant bombardment of new electric vehicles, but not all hope is lost…
GT-R. These three letters represent one of the most prestigious monikers within the automotive world. From the 2000GT-R that started it all to the controversial R35 GT-R, the cars branded with the famed GT-R badge have carried the image of being race-bred, performance ladened beauties with equally beautiful exhaust notes. With that said, the next GT-R to be added to the lineup may well be an EV.
Rest assured, though that an electrified Godzilla won’t make its way onto any shores for a while. Nissan claims that its current electric vehicle tech can’t effectively produce an EV that lives up to the GT-R heritage. Nissan’s chief operating officer, Ashwani Gupta, said “At present, when we do all the simulations to the electrification on these cars, we don’t find the right technology to define what is ‘Z’ and what is ‘GT-R’. And at the end, these two are not cars, these are our culture.”
Although it’s a kick in the gut to know that sooner or later, one of the most cherished automotive lineages will be electrified, it’s somewhat comforting to know that Nissan won’t haphazardly push out an EV just for the sake of going along with the current electrification trend.
The Japanese marque plans to invest billions of dollars into the development of its battery technology. Spearheading the push towards better tech are some of Nissan’s engineers alongside Oxford University. Nissan’s battery gigafactory in Sunderland will most likely be the staging ground for this tech and a working prototype is expected to become a reality by 2024 with the tech ready for mass production sometime around 2028.
“I think it’s too early to say when, but definitely it [an electric GT-R] will come one day.”
So we know that someday we will have to say goodbye to the iconic pure-petrol-powered platforms we’ve come to love and admire. In the same vein, we might see Dodge bring to life an electric muscle car.
Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis has commented that the team is working on a revival of the muscle car image and has confirmed that it will be electric. “We’re gonna build you a Dodge muscle car first,” he said. “And it’s going to look like a Dodge, drive like a Dodge, sound like a Dodge, perform like a Dodge, and oh by the way it’s going to be electrified as well. That’s how we’re gonna do it differently.”
Muscle Cars & Trucks speculate that we may see an electrified resurrection of the famed Plymouth Barracuda. Kuniskis seems determined to deliver an electric muscle car that retains the classic muscle car DNA with a bit of EV tech thrown into the mix. Dodge is scheduled to release three new vehicles this year with two of them being the Dodge Hornet SUV and possibly an electric (and conveniently named) Charger. The third remains a mystery.
Oh the times they are a changin’ indeed.
