The Japanese brand’s Nismo high performance division is best known for its flagship GT-Rs and Z cars, but a changing Nissan model lineup could mean it branches out to produce more electric vehicles.
Currently there’s just one Nismo EV available in the Ariya electric SUV, however future battery-powered sports cars aren’t off the table, and the brand expects to look within to help development.
Speaking to UK publication Autocar, Tommaso Volpe, head of Nissan’s Formula E team and the director of Nissan Global Motorsports, said there is scope for the squad to help its road-going arm with upcoming EVs.
According to Volpe, there is consideration to develop “some prototypes based on normal chassis that can help the Nismo division to enhance the performance of electric cars”.
“We have the Ariya Nismo now, which has no influence from Formula E, but we are considering a collaboration for future models.
“We could do a prototype version, then they could use that as a base to develop future products.”
Nissan won the Formula E championship for the first time this season, and while all cars use a spec 350kW electric motor, the brand’s own in-house MGU, inverter, gearbox and ECU were among the parts it used to beat its competitors.
While there has been little technology sharing between Formula E and Nissan’s road cars thus far – apart from some coding from the Leaf ending up in the race car – that could change with the next-gen FE racers, set to make almost 600kW and be all-wheel drive.
“The development of the Gen4 cars will be when potential transfers will come from the racing cars to future [road] products, because the level of performance and efficiency will be pushed even more to the limit,” Volpe told Autocar.
“Also, they will be all-wheel drive. With the Ariya we have strong expertise of all-wheel drive electric powertrains and controlling the grip on four wheels independently. There is a huge possibility of transfer with our future products.
“The regulations of Gen4 have been written in an open conversation with manufacturers, and one of the reasons all-wheel drive is there is because of a strong push by Nissan and some other manufacturers, because all-wheel drive is the trend for the core business in the future.”
It’s not yet known what all-wheel drive models are in the pipeline, however Nissan’s flagship GT-R has long been rumoured to go electric for its next R36 generation.
At the 2023 Tokyo motor show, Nissan unveiled the wild Hyper Force concept, an 1000kW EV with obvious design links to past Skylines.
Reports from Japan have also claimed the R36 generation model will feature solid-state batteries.
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