Godzilla just poked its head up over the horizon

The next Nissan GT-R is expected to arrive before the end of the decade, reports The Drive. Even more surprising, though, is the news that it will likely do so as a hybrid, and not an EV, as had been previously speculated.

The information comes from no less a reliable source than Ponz Pandikuthira, Nissan North America’s senior vice president and planning officer, who spoke to the website at this year’s New York Auto Show. During the conversation, the executive said that details about the successor to the R35 GT-R, which finally went out of production last year, are coming in the not too distant future.

“I’d say by 2028 you’ll see some concrete announcements, and hopefully before the decade turns you’ll see an R36 GT-R,” Pandikuthira is quoted as saying.

We’ll have to wait for “concrete” details, but the executive did say that the next GT-R will be an “all-new car” with a fresh chassis. The engine is likely to be a little more familiar and may even be the VR38 twin-turbocharged V-6 that was at the heart of the R35 for all 18 years of the last generation. It will receive some internal updates, of course, and may come mated to some completely new technology.

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

It is interesting that Nissan is talking so openly about the idea of an electrified GT-R. The sports car, like the other more senior members of its class, has spent its entire history as a purely gas-powered vehicle. It has also been the most hardcore model in the Nissan lineup for nearly all of that time and the enthusiasts who buy these sort of cars tend to be rather dogmatic about combustion engines. Still, while some purists out there may grumble about the idea of a hybrid GT-R, the alternative is a fully battery-powered version, which Nissan seemed to be seriously considering as recently as two years ago. If the GT-R is to live on, some change will be necessary.