Nissan GT-R import fears

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Motor Industry

03 December 2007 09:43

Bargain hunters rejoice! Nissan's new GT-R costs just £34,400 in Japan - spelling out juicy savings for grey importers in the UK, where the super-coupe is tipped to cost £60,000.

Even after the cost of shipping and import duties, that means you could land a Japanese-spec car for around £42-£45k. However, Nissan GB says imports won't necessarily match the full UK spec cars and warns of iffy radio reception in Europe and shorter warranties.

The car goes on sale officially in the UK at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2008, when deposits will be taken. But there's a long wait after that for prospective owners - the first UK cars won't arrive until spring 2009.

Japanese cars arrive with owners on 6 December 2007 - a year and a quarter earlier - wearing a price tag of 7,700,000 yen. At today's exchange rate, that's a mouth-watering £34,400.

Production is being capped at just 1000 a month globally with only 300 a year coming to Britain, so the GT-R will remain a rare sight on our roads. Especially as it will probably pass you at very high speed - its 473bhp 3.8-litre V6 propels the Nissan to 60mph in just 3.5sec and on to a very un-Micralike 194mph.

Words: Tim Pollard

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