Every so often, a custom car comes out that the internet doesn’t quite understand, although it’s more likely you’ll find something in this vein of controversy produced by an enterprising shop rather than an automaker itself. However, never say never. For Tokyo Auto Salon 2025, Nissan’s taken an R32 Skyline GT-R, one of the biggest poster cars of the Fast and Furious generation, and turned it into an electric car. Given how electrification is firmly part of a culture war, I’m sure general discussion around this thing will be civil. No, wait, that’s not the right word.
Work started on this project more than a year and a half ago when Nissan teased the project back in March of 2023. From there, a video of the car being used was posted to what was then known as Twitter, and it actually looked like a pretty nice starting point. We’re talking about a basically stock Gun Grey Metallic R32 Skyline GT-R, complete with its famous RB26DETT 2.6-liter twin-turbocharged inline-six. From the outside, at least on video, it seems like the sort of car enthusiasts would want to own, but Nissan had its own plans.
These plans involved removing the straight-six and fitting an entirely electric powertrain. Specs remain elusive, but whether we’re looking at borrowed Ariya Nismo parts, custom electric drive modules, or something else entirely, this is a Japanese performance car legend that whispers rather than shouts. It’s far from the first electric restomod of a classic performance vehicle, but compared to EV-swapped Porsche 911s and British roadsters, the R32 GT-R is a more modern, more capable platform to begin with.
It’s also worth noting that a full 44.9 percent of R32 Skyline GT-Rs, or 19,729 cars, were built in this Gun Grey Metallic color, meaning that Nissan didn’t cut up a car in a particularly rare spec. It’s mostly just rare by virtue of appearing effectively stock, but that won’t stop the internet from getting mad. These conversions are naturally divisive because they take a desirable car that offers an experience you can’t buy new anymore, and imbues them with a powertrain experience you can absolutely buy new, potentially sacrificing character. However, Nissan might’ve had to do this, reinvent the past to tease the future.
【R32EV】vol.14
10月27日に富士スピードウェイで開催されたR’s Meetingにて、製作途中のR32EVを展示しました。#GTR #R32EV pic.twitter.com/xOxsZJMK6q
— 日産自動車株式会社 (@NissanJP) November 5, 2024
At this point, it seems that Nissan’s intent on having the next GT-R be electrified in some way, potentially even as a battery electric vehicle. We know the brand claims to have stopped development of new combustion engines, and the all-electric Hyper Force concept featured GT-R branding and the promise of solid-state batteries and 1,341 horsepower. Assuming Nissan makes it through current financial headwinds, that could be a good look at where Japan’s flagship performance car nameplate is going.
However, if the next GT-R is to be all-electric, it needs to have something that makes it special. After all, the R32 Skyline GT-R was a turbocharged all-wheel-drive world-beater. The R35 GT-R updated this formula for the Great Recession, offering what was then supercar-humbling pace and a fascinating all-wheel-drive system that felt truly special — everything was sent via torque tube to a rear-mounted transaxle, then a power transfer unit would distribute some torque through a driveshaft to the front differential. As a result, pace from a dig or off a corner was unreal, but unreal acceleration is now simply the standard for performance EVs.
In any case, if you’re in Tokyo from Jan. 10 to 12, 2025, you can stop by Tokyo Auto Salon and see the EV-swapped R32 Skyline GT-R in person. At the minimum, you can expect it to be a serious talking point on your Instagram story, as people likely have some strong opinions on turning Godzilla electric.
(Photo credits: Nissan)
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Yes, just reading the headline made me mad. How stupid do they have to be to do this to a SKYLINE?! Sacrilege and blasphemy. All EV’s are TRASH anyway and aren’t real cars. Gasoline forever!
Must be a weirdo but I think this is wrong whereas I’d normally be in for anyone’s ev conversion. Leave the R32/R33/R34s alone.
I mean, whatever. EV swaps are going to become more and more common, there’s going to be a first time for every model someone holds sacred. No sense in being upset about it.
I envision in another 15-20 years, there will be straight “Drop In” kits for just about every famous/popular ICE powertrain.
There’s already a company called EV West that makes electric motors with Chevy small block motor mounts, that hook right up to the existing driveshaft.
Give it a few more years, and you’ll be able to yank the engine, transmission and gas tank out of any popular car/truck, and replace it will an electric motor and battery cells.
I just take issue that they used a genuine GT-R for it.. like can’t you just dress up a base car in GT-R clothes and slap the EV stuff in there?
Alternatively I’d have loved to see an R30/31 with some kind of 80’s Cyberpunk looking livery and some wild lighting to lean into the electric thing..
I’m okay with this, but I’d really have liked to also see them somehow shoehorn that straight-six into a Leaf.
Don’t use a gt-r when legions of rb25det models exist you can modify to taste. A bumper and rims away from faking a gt-r too.
No, not really. The GT-Rs for the R32, R33, and R34 all had modified bodies. The fenders were widened, the doors reshaped so they could open with the widened fenders, and at least for the R33 they had a unique front bumper mount. The GTS-T of the R32 shares the widened rear fenders of the GT-R and many have been swapped to use the front fenders of the GT-R/GTS-4 but they don’t have the doors, so it’d still be obvious to superfans.
Arguably the GTS-4 would’ve been a better choice because it is just a GT-R with a weaker engine and a more tame ATTESSA system. But those are probably rarer than actual GT-Rs nowadays and might cause even more of an uproar among Nissan’s home crowd.
Personally, while I don’t hate it, I think it’s the wrong car.
What they SHOULD have done is make an EV Silvia or 180SX. Make something that really emphasizes how controllable their EV powertrain is and then drift the shit out of it.
This.
メカゴジラ
Mekagojira!
Honestly? My take on this and pretty much any car modification is the same: It’s your car man, do what you want. I don’t get people getting upset at what people do to their cars. You’re not driving it, why do you care? If it makes them happy, let it make them happy
I don’t hate it in the same way that I don’t hate EV-mod vintage 911s and E-Types and Mercedes SLs.
ICE engines are inherently inefficient, compromised systems – and all the turbochargers, superchargers, multi-speed transmissions, AWD systems, etc are attempts to mechanically eliminate those compromises.
EVs have their own compromises – but they eliminate many of the ICE compromises in a far more efficient manner.
Skyline GTRs are highly compromised cars – Making them an EV simply gets rid of many of those compromises so that the vehicle can accomplish its given task more effectively.
Everytime I read this take, I think of the quartz revolution in watchmaking.
People said it was the future, timekeeping would be incredibly accurate, easier and cheaper to achieve too. And that was true.
However people are paying out the ass nowadays for a mechanical watch, full of small parts and systems aimed at offsetting the inherent flaws of the technology.
I see cars the same way. They are intricate, complicated and compromised systems, but those flaws give them soul. My hair stands when I cross 3500rpm in my Z4 because it sounds so good. I don’t care that it’s less efficient than an EV, it makes me feel stuff.
An EV does not, however competent that it might be. Cars are not rational things for many of us.
PS: EVs are great dailies and are competent cars for people who feel different than I do.
I wonder if there were an EV Z4/SL/TT how that would make one feel?
Because it’s not the motor/transmission in my Mercedes convertible that makes me feel things.
I’d test drive it gladly, but with little hope to enjoy myself
Who cares?! They are REAL cars…all EV’s are TRASH and are not real cars. Seriously. Gasoline forever!
This doesn’t make me mad. It bores me.
Electric propulsion – push right pedal, go fast. Push left pedal, slow down. Making the sound effects of a golf cart along the way. If away from home, hunt around for a working charger and mess around with some silly app to put more go in the thing, then wait around eons. Yawn.
That’s definitely an opinion. Of course go karts have been like this for years, and we managed to have fun with those and track those.
I’ll agree with the charging bit, but for the fun bit, that is truly down to how one perceives. I personally have had a blast running EV karts at the local kart track.
GoKarts make all sorts of noise and all sorts of drama while they do their thing. Plus that whole “feels like you are going to die” thing of being perched on a pie plate with an engine and a steering wheel even if they make no noise at all – but the noise is a big part of the fun. Plus – GOOD GoKarts have multi-speed transmissions and a clutch.
I’ve had a blast on electric go-karts. The torque and ability to keep momentum through the turns was a lot of fun.
Given they’re so much quieter, they could probably set up shop in more locations than traditional kart tracks.
I’ve had a ton of fun in an EV. This sounds like a skill issue.
This is a “you are more easily amused than I am” issue. And the one lacking the skill is inevitable the one who only wants (or can only handle) two pedals.
If I want my internal organs re-arranged by g-forces while I sit there and do very little, a ticket to Six Flags is a lot cheaper and safer.
There’s more than one way to have fun. I can do it in something underpowered with a manual, I can do it in something fast and electric, and all the stops in between.
And what’s wrong with being easily amused? Then you’re getting more joy out of life.
I didn’t say it’s wrong, it just is. I have very high standards when it comes to cars as a general rule, and it takes a fair bit to make me like one – and speed is absolutely NOT a requirement – I rather enjoyed my summer driving a Trabant.
EVs bore me to absolute, not giving a shit, I could not care less about them, tears. All of them. and I have driven everything from all the Teslas to the Polestar to the Bolt, Leaf, i3, the Koreans, and Riven – LOTS of friends and coworkers with them. About the only common ones I haven’t driven are the GMs and the Lucid. I don’t care how fast they are, because I don’t care about going fast to start with. And the user interfaces universally make me want to kill someone at this point. Mostly Elon Musk for foisting this bullshit on the world.
If you like them, good for you. More gasoline for me.
“Have high standards”, “enjoyed… driving a Trabant”.
Uh…
As someone who enjoys all different kinds of cars, love driving a manual and have owned three, and don’t care how many cylinders the engine has, I love my Mach-E GT. Fun EVs can exist, but I also enjoy my old 4.0L Jeep. Different tools for different jobs.
It was Budapest in 1991, I was a starving college student. Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it, Trabants are *hilariously* fun cars. And better than walking or taking the bus.
If you love it, good for you. I have no use for one, and like I said, the screens, screens, screens user interfaces make me very grumpy, and I find them incredibly boring to drive. I have no need for that particular tool.
I wanna see it painted, painted pink
Pink as Penelope, pink as Jag
I mean, Toyota showed EV and hydrogen-powered AE86s at last year’s Auto Salon, so it’s not like this is some wild new thing nobody has seen before. I don’t recall there being any anger then, either.
In general, it would be swell if we just appreciated a car for what it is instead of appreciating it for how much we think it’ll piss off some guy we made up.
Is “get[ting] mad” the new “some genius?” I don’t like it as much. We’re all mad enough as it is.
Never owned or even driven one,so I’m not really vested in the GTR beyond loving the Bad Craziness of them. As it doesn’t have a CVT, all I can say is that I hope the the drivetrain will go to keep an ICE one alive (or a silly swap).
Doesn’t have a CVT…. seems like a deficit rather than worthy of praise, don’t you think?
It really amazes me how tribal the EV vs. ICE camps have become.
I’m a fan of going fast, and I’m a fan of not just doing the same thing. I like to see fresh ideas, different takes, oddball choices, and ragebait for the fanboys.
How yawn inducing the aftermarket world would be if it was just all LS swaps. #KeepAutomotiveAftermarketWierd
I actually remember at one point there were people experimenting with a hydraulic drive system to drag race, being driven by a small diesel. I could’ve sworn it was in a ford escape, but my Google Fu fails me, as this was probably over a decade ago.
At this point, putting electric motors in classic cars is just as boring as LS swaps. And at least LS-swapped cars have some drama to them, and generally don’t add hundreds of lbs of road-hugging weight to go a useful distance.
I don’t need to go fast to be entertained behind the wheel, but I need the car to be entertaining even if I am just running to the store for a bottle of milk.
I like this.
Considering one of my engineering class projects way back in time was fitting a turbine engine into a Lotus Esprit, I consider an EV version of anything a step in the right direction.
I still pine for that Jaguar C-X75 concept car, that had two mini turbines providing power for an electric drivetrain.Hmmm, just wondering, do you know a model of turbine that would fit in the back of a BMW i3? 😉
Look for small APUs. Many already provide electrical power. I’d recommand the Safran eAPU60.
https://www.safran-group.com/fr/produits-services/groupe-puissance-auxiliaire-eapu60
Ill take that RB if its available, they make lovely noises.
I have owned an R33 for over 20 years, I’m not mad at all about this, In fact it is fascinating, I do sometimes wonder if there will ever be a way to make mine hybrid… To give it an extra boost at the lower end. But for now I will keep the engine as it is, I like how it sounds and drives 🙂
In the future I might need a kit like the one fitted here to keep mine on the road, who knows what will happen to petrol supplies etc eventually ?
“turning Godzilla electric.”
So they’ve built MechaGodzilla?
Exactly.
And wasn’t the original Godzilla nuclear-powered anyway?
I am not, in fact, mad. It’s your car, do whatever you want. I wouldn’t do it because I’m not a silly person. So I’m not mad. Just disappointed.
Shades of the recent Jaguar ad.
I’m not really a GTR guy, so I don’t get a visceral reaction to this, but I think brands are on dangerous ground when they start not only tear down their heritage and what made people interested in them in the first place, but do so ostentatiously.
Arguably both Jaguar and Nissan are in a place where they have to take desperate chances and can’t coast on heritage, but I also have to wonder who this is *for*, or more specifically, who is more likely to buy a new Nissan after seeing this than they were before.
I’m probably in the minority on this one, but I think it makes sense and I like it. The GT-R was always about being cutting edge, with the RWS, and the unique AWD, these were so advanced in so many ways, so resto modding it to include the new cutting edge stuff makes sense.
People threw a fit that the R35 had an auto, but to me it made sense as that was the more advanced option by then, so this just feels like the same but in an old body to me.
Would I want this? No. But as a way to show off, I like that Nissan is doing it.
Thank you. I hate it.
I like my EV, and I like my gas cars, I don’t like this. When I see stuff like this, I just think of the “YEH JUS PUT AN LS IN IT” guys. Waste of a classic.
My feelings exactly. Just molesting an otherwise interesting car for no good reason at all either way.