Nissan has briefly teased a Skyline R32 GT-R EV conversion project. We’re sure that won’t be controversial at all…

Deep in the depths of many YouTube channels, you can find unlisted videos, hidden away from the public eye. And, as it turns out, if you go hunting for secrets within the official Nissan Japan channel, you’ll find a very big one indeed.

Yep, you read the headline right. Nissan appears to have a new R32 GT-R project up its sleeve, but it’s not one that will appease the average enthusiast. Instead, they seem to be bringing Godzilla up to date by injecting it with a heavy dose of electricity.

Now, at this point, we should make it clear that practically nothing is known about this project outside of Nissan HQ. So, we’re speculating here about what that ‘EV’ tag could really mean. At face value, you could reasonably assume that a car with that moniker will simply undergo a full battery powertrain swap. However, as you can hear in the video below, the project car in question still has an RB26 under the hood. There’s an exhaust sticking out the back too. So, is this merely a “before” shot, or could the project be a hybrid conversion instead? Certainly, that would be a lot more palatable for most keen drivers; the batteries acting as a genuine enhancement to the car’s legendary powertrain, rather than replacing it outright. For now, I suppose we’ll have to keep our fingers crossed.

Dreamt up by an enthusiast

Anyway, there is more to decipher from this mysterious video. For a start, there’s the title: “R32EV vol. 1”. We’re taking a stab in the dark again, but could that mean a build series is coming to the Nissan YouTube channel? Whatever your stance on this project is, that would be pretty cool, right?

There’s more too. In the video description, Google translates the kanji, hiragana, and katakana into a message that says this project “began with the desire of an engineer who joined the company because he admired the GT-R”. Furthermore, that he wants to “build a car that is even more exciting, by incorporating the latest electrification technology (that he is currently involved in) with the car he likes the most.”

That little footnote gives us hope about what this project may turn out like. If an enthusiast is at the helm, that surely gives more credence to the hybrid prediction. But even if not, who knows, maybe this could genuinely be an EV that’s geared up for a fun drive.

If you want to follow the project, there’s a dedicated website that you can visit here. Or, if the very thought of an electrified R32 repulses you, don’t fret. We’ve got just the tonic with a whole bunch of GT-R articles available below. So go on, dive in:

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