The Nissan Skyline GT-R is a Japanese Grand tourer based on the Nissan Skyline range.
The first GT-Rs were produced from 1969 to 1973. After a 16-year hiatus since the KPGC110 in 1972, the GT-R name was revived in 1989 with the Skyline R32 due to its popularity. This car was nicknamed "Godzilla" by the Australian motoring publication Wheels in its July 1989 edition. The GT-R proceeded to win the JTCC Group A series championship 4 years in a row, and also had success in the Australian Touring Car Championship winning from 1990 to 1992, until a regulation change excluded the GT-R in 1993.
The Skyline GT-R became the flagship of Nissan performance, showcasing many advanced technologies including the ATTESA E-TS 4WDsystem and the Super-HICAS four-wheel steering. The GT-Rs remained inexpensive compared to its European rivals, with a list-price of¥4,500,000 (US$31,000). Today, the car is popular for import drag racing, circuit track, time attack and events hosted by tuning magazines. Production of the Skyline GT-R ended in August 2002. The car was replaced by the Nissan GT-R, an independent vehicle not sold as a Skyline.
The Skyline GT-R was never manufactured outside Japan, and the sole export markets were Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand, in 1991, and the UK (in 1997, thanks to the Single Vehicle Approval scheme) as used Japanese imports. Despite this, the car has become an iconic sports car, including in countries from the Western World (mainly the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland, Canada, and the United States). It has become notable through pop culture such as The Fast and the Furious series, Initial D,Shakotan Boogie, Wangan Midnight, Need For Speed series ,and Gran Turismo series.
The car was named at the time by BBC's Top Gear as the only true Japanese contribution in the line of supercars, and by Jeremy Clarksonas one of the best cars in the world.
The Skyline name originated from Prince automobile company, which developed and sold the Skyline line of sedans before merging with Nissan-Datsun. The GT-R abbreviation stands for Gran Turismo Racer while the GT-B stands for Gran Turismo Berlinetta. The Japanese chose to use Italian when naming the car – as most cars that were made in Japan at that time used Western abbreviations – to further enhance sales. The earliest predecessor of the GT-R, the S54 2000 GT-B, came second in its first race in 1964 to the purpose-built Porsche 904 GTS. The next development of the GT-R, the four-door PGC10 2000 GT-R, scored 33 victories in the one and a half years it raced, and by the time it attempted its 50th consecutive win, its run was ended by a Mazda Savanna RX-3. The car took 1000 victories by the time it was discontinued in 1972. The last of the original GT-Rs, the KPGC110 2000GT-R, used an unchanged S20 119 kW (160 hp) inline-6 engine from the earlier 2000 GT-R and only sold 197 units due to the worldwide energy crisis. This model was the only GT-R to never participate in a major race despite the sole purpose-built race car, which now resides in Nissan's storage unit for historical cars in Zama.
The Skyline continued into the 1990s when it became popular largely because it remained rear wheel drive, while most other manufacturers were focusing on front wheel drive cars.
Throughout its lifetime, various special editions containing additional performance-enhancing modifications, were released by Nissan and its performance division Nismo (Nissan Motorsport).
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