NIssan Motor Co. announced that the Nismo brand will now be the company's exclusive global brand for its motorsports and performance road cars.
The announcement, made Monday at a a ceremony for Nismo's new headquarters in Yokohama, Japan, also indicated that a fleet of Nismo brand cars would hit the road soon including the Juke Nismo, a crossover utility, and a Nismo version of the brand's iconic sports car, the 370Z.
The Juke Nismo will be available this sping and a revised 2014 370Z Nismo is planned for the summer, AutoWeek reported. A Nismo version of Nissan's high-performance supercar, the GT-R, will debut at a later date.
"It would be unthinkable for us to develop a range of Nismo road cars without including the GT-R," said Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn, according to AutoWeek. "The standard production model is a global supercar and the GT-R's performance on track reflects the passion and talents of the Nismo team. The GT-R Nismo will be special, and I can't wait to drive it."
The GT-R has fans across the world and the Nismo president acknowledged them in a statement, without providing too much detail about the GT-R's specifics.
"We know that enthusiasts around the world will be itching to know more about the forthcoming GT-R Nismo," Nismo President Shoichi Miyatani said. "It's too early to share any details yet, but fans can be certain we'll be applying all of our motorsport expertise to creating a GT-R Nismo worthy of the name."
Cars.com blog Kicking Tires reported the automaker plans to make the Nismo brand more affordable and accessible.
"For many would-be Nismo customers, the only way to experience a Nismo performance car has been through a game like Sony's Gran Turismo series," Simon Sproule, Nissan's corporate vice president for marketing and communications, said in a statement, according to Kicking Tires. "Now we can bring them into the family of Nissan owners with exciting, real Nismo cars created by a dedicated and experienced team that is fully linked to the digital world and well aware of what these new customers are looking for in a performance road car."
Nismo is a a portmanteau of Nissan Motorsports. The company has roots dating back to the 1950s, but it was not incorporated to a brand until the mid-1980s.
See Now: OnePlus 6: How Different Will It Be From OnePlus 5?
