The Nissan GT-R50 By Italdesign Is A Wild, Gold-Trimmed Prototype

This year is the 50th anniversary of Nissan’s famous GT-R badge, and it seems the Japanese manufacturer didn’t want the occasion to go unmarked. As luck would have it, design studio Italdesign is celebrating its 50th birthday in 2018 too, so we’ve ended up with this awesome collaboration that kills to birds with one stone.

It’s called the GT-R50, and it’s based on a GT-R Nismo. The bodywork has been radically altered, with one of the most prominent changes being a 54mm lower roofline with the middle section lowered and the outer parts raised. It’s been done to give the “roof profile a muscular look,” Nissan says.

The rear is dominated by brilliantly excessive wheel arch flares, and the iconic GT-R taillights have been completely redesigned to appear as though they’re “floating”. The finishing touch is a massive adjustable wing. Oh, and the underside of that wing - along with much of the rest of the car - is finished in gold. Subtle this car is not.

To go with the revamped exterior, the GT-R Nismo’s guts have been tweaked too. Taking lessons learned from the car’s GT3 racing exploits, the 3.8-litre V6 includes larger turbochargers (pinched from the GT3 machine), bigger intercoolers, stronger pistons, con-rods, bearings and a heavier-duty crankshaft, plus a fettled fuel injection system. The result? 710bhp. That’ll do nicely.

The dual-clutch transmission has been reinforced, while both the differentials and drive shafts are stronger too. The modified suspension setup includes Bilstein DampTronic adaptive dampers, and on the braking front, we have Brembo six-pot front/four-pot rear calipers. They’re finished with red paint, of course.

In the cabin you’ll find liberal use of materials like carbonfibre, Alcantara, and leather. There’s a new carbon-infused steering wheel, and yet more gold touches.

The question is, will Nissan and Italdesign put this into limited production, or will it stay as a one-off prototype? We’ll have to wait and see.