Nissan Bills ’17 GT-R as One Powerful Daily Driver

NEW YORK – The redone ’17 Nissan GT-R comes with brute power, but it’s also designed for driving “by anyone, anytime, anywhere,” says Daniele Schillaci, the automaker’s executive vice president-global marketing and sales.

At the sport car’s New York auto show debut, he talks up its performance prowess, but also calls it a daily driver with creature comforts, many of them new.

“We really worked on an upgraded interior,” he tells WardsAuto. He adds that a driving-mode-selection system, a first for the GT-R, allows motorists to switch from sport to comfort levels of ride and handling.

The new model will appeal to enthusiasts as an alternative to the Porsche 911 “and maybe the Chevrolet Corvette,” he says. The new model cranks out 365 hp, 20 more than its predecessor.

The GT-R lineage dates to 1969. It’s been nine years since the last redesign. Schillaci says it wasn’t a case of slowly redoing a fast car. Instead, he cites the typical product cycle for a low-volume niche vehicle.

The GT-R and its more-powerful big sister GT-R Nismo (600 hp) collectively sold 31,000 units globally and 2,500 in the U.S. last year. U.S. deliveries of the GT-R fell 23.1% last year from 1,436 in 2014, according to WardsAuto.

The Nismo is priced at $160,000, the current GT-R at about $100,000.

Considering the latter’s performance capabilities, it offers more bang for the buck than comparable competitors, Michael Bunce, Nissan North America’s vice president-product strategy and planning, tells WardsAuto. “With other cars in the segment, you’d have to get into ultra-luxury segments to get what the GT-R gives you.”

It goes on sale this summer. Pricing is still to be announced.

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