New Nissan R36 GT-R delivers big surprise as electric power ditched in favour of V6 hybrid grunt

Nissan’s R36 GT-R supercar is coming and will be an all-new beast, well mostly, according to the company’s senior executive. We think you’ll like what hasn’t changed in this next generation. Hint, it will have pistons - six of them!

The good news for fans of the iconic ‘Godzilla’ is that not only will the Nissan GT-R be returning soon as the R36, but it will seemingly retain the revered petrol V6 from the R35 - although most likely as part of a hybrid powertrain. That’s according to Nissan North America Vice President and Chief Planning Officer Ponz Pandikuthira in an interview with motoring publication The Drive recently.   

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Pandikuthira said the R36 needed to be on a different chassis to the R35 and that while it was going to be "an all new car” the “powertrain’s going to be mostly new”.

And this is where the news gets really good. Pandikuthira suggests that the heart of the R35 — the much loved high output twin-turbo V6 petrol engine — would be transplanted into the R36 but given the hybrid treatment.

“If there was a hybrid powertrain, the block of that VR38 engine (which was the engine in the R35 GT-R) would be so great. Why would you throw that away? But maybe the way combustion matter needs to be very different. 
Maybe the heads are very different. Maybe the pistons are very different. So maybe we have to change the top end,” Pandikuthira said.

This news puts to rest any rumours that the R36 would be fully electric, but that a compromise might be needed in the form of  hybridisation to meet emissions standards.

“The next generation GTR will need some level of electrification,” Pandikuthira said.

“So, does it need to be a full EV? Probably not, but it does need to have some level of electrification to meet, to future proof emissions, compatibility.”

According to Pandikuthira the R36 GT-R should be with us by 2030, marking five years since production of the R35 ended in August, 2025.

The R35 GT-R’s VR38 twin-turbo V6 started off with 353kW when it was first launched in 2007, but power output rose to 419kW by the end of its lifetime in 2025 with the NISMO high performance division version extracting even more. That power was sent to all four wheels through a six-speed dual-clutch transmission.

On the day the final R35 rolled off the production line Nissan’s global CEO Ivan Espinosa promised the GT-R would return.

“To the many fans of the GT‑R worldwide,’ Espinsosa said. “I want to tell you this isn’t a goodbye to the GT‑R forever, it’s our goal for the GT‑R nameplate to one day make a return.”