Nissan Skyline R34 GT-R: End Of The Road For Most Powerful NISMO Version

Nissan's tuning and motorsport division, NISMO, today announced that production of the hand built Skyline NISMO R34GT-R Z-tune has ended, with 19 of the vehicles having been sold around the world. The NISMO R34 GT-R Z-tune, an encore performance for the R34 having been introduced two years after Nissan officially ceased production of the R34 Skyline GT-R, is based on well maintained, lightly used examples of the R34 Skyline GT-R which were hand-picked by NISMO engineers, before being stripped and fully rebuilt with a variety of new and highly modified parts. The R34 GT-R Z-tune was conceived in 2005 as being the ultimate, most powerful production version of the R34 Skyline GT-R and was marketed as a stop-gap, limited-edition vehicle aimed at whetting the appetite of the GT-R faithful prior to the release of the next generation model (currently due to be released at the Tokyo Motor Show in November 2007). The Z-tune achieved its "most powerful production Skyline GT-R" status thanks to a bored out 2.8 litre version of the standard GT-R's power plant equipped with two industrial, race-strength turbochargers, which duly furnished the car with 500 hp and 398 lb-ft of torque. Although initially envisioned as being a strictly limited run of only 20 vehicles, a lack of suitable donor R34 GT-Rs led to production being halted after the completion of the 19th vehicle. Of the 19 cars that found a home, 13 were delivered to Japanese customers, with the rest being purchased by foreign enthusiasts.

While NISMO continues to produce tuning parts for a wide range of Nissans, both past and present, the demise of the GT-R Z-tune means that the company currently has no custom built, complete vehicle packages on its books. This paucity of product should however soon be rectified with the planned summer release of the Fairlady Z Version NISMO Type 380RS, based upon the standard Nissan Fairlady Z (350Z).