After 6 years, it bloody well better be worth the wait.
What we know:
Powertrain
Twin turbo V6, as shown when a spy scored underhood shots during testing at Laguna Seca. There has been no confirmation of the rumors that the VK series V8 would be used in the American market car. Given that they were testing the V6 at Laguna Seca, I'd say that just about kills the V8 rumor.
Paddle shifters were also spotted in the Laguna Seca car. The rumor mill has been buzzing about a 7-speed trans. Nobody knows, and further, nobody knows if it's a true automated manual, or just a tap-shift automatic.
A next-gen intelligent AWD system is assumed, but no facts exist.
Body
The production car is virtually identical to the GTR Proto shown at the 2005 Tokyo Motor Show.
Interior
We know pretty much nothing
Suspension
Again, we know pretty much nothing. They have been using a Porsche 911 Turbo as a tag-along benchmark car, so expect something pretty special here. Brakes appear to be a 6-piston front, 4-piston rear setup. I seem to remember hearing a rumor that Lotus was tapped to assist with suspension tuning.
Price
Nothing solid
Gatecrasher's speculation
Power will be over 425, but under 500. That puts it smack in the middle of Corvette, M3 and Porsche territory, all stated competitors. It may have a temporary overboost feature similar to Porsche's Sport Chrono package.
Tranny will be a 6-speed paddle shift auto, with a conventional 6-speed manual as an option.
The driveline will have every electronic nanny currently known to automotive science, probably with some very creative Japanese acronyms attached. I expect them to resurrect the ATTESA name for marketing reasons. Maybe something very Japanese sounding like Super ATTESA NEO
Interior will probably be nice, but don't expect anything too much more uplevel or exotic than is currently available on the new G37 coupe. Hopefully they'll offer a good sport seat, but with our luck, it'll be for Japan only.
Suspension will be electronically controlled and adjustable just like the driveline.
Any carbon on the body will likely be for show. They're going to shoot their wad on gadgets and not keeping the weight down. I fully expect this thing to be a pig, on the order of 3700lbs or more. This is going to be its single greatest liability IMHO.
Last but not least, the price. I'm going to peg $70,000 minimum. I just do not see any way for Nissan to bring this much technology to market for anything less. It'll probably climb into the 80s or more depending on options and whether or not they offer something like a V-Spec model.
I fully believe Nissan will hit their target of similar performance to the Porsche 911 Turbo. That said, this car is not going to sell well. If Nissan is smart, they'll keep their sales expectations modest. My money says less than 5000 units for North America, less than 10,000 units annually world wide. It's going to be very tough to convince people with this kind of money to spend $70k or more at a Nissan dealership where people are getting their Sentras and Altimas bought and serviced. Chevy can get away with this because they have 54 years of history behind the Corvette. Nissan doesn't, at least not outside of Japan. On that note, once you strip away the fanboys and nutswingers, I have my doubts that a gadget laden techno-boat will sell in significant numbers without having a Porsche badge on the front of it.
The market has changed drastically since the R34 went out of production. This car will not live up to the Godzilla name its ancestors had. For proof, you need look no farther than the last round of whiz bang techno cars to come out of Japan, and see what happened to them.
Last but not least, it's going to get its ass kicked by a light weight, torque laden, pushrod, leaf sprung Chevy
