Nissan conducted a special preview of their Auto Expo exhibits last month on an exhibition ground in Noida. If you have been following our updates, you’d have read our brief encounter with the Nissan Leaf. Also part of the show was the Nissan GT-R.
Unlike the Leaf, we were not allowed to get behind the wheel of the GT-R. Even then moving from the GT-R to the Leaf’s driver seat was like shifting from setting alight a 20 foot long electric cracker to lighting a flower pot on Diwali day!
Being taxied by a professional driver flown in from Europe, each journalist got to experience the GT-R’s brutal acceleration for 3-5 minutes spin. He put pedal to the metal and enjoyed the reactions of his newly acquainted passenger as the GT-R was on more than one occasion a whisker away from tearing out of control.
IndianAutosBlog.com is told by sourced with direct knowledge on the matter that Nissan could display the (green) peace-loving Leaf and the ear-shattering GT-R at next year’s Delhi Auto Expo. India is not hearing the name of this critically acclaimed sports car as Nissan India gifted an example to India’s first F1 racing driver Narain Karthikeyan.
Powered by a 3.8-liter twin turbo V6 engine that puts out a mind-boggling 520hp/612Nm, the Nissan GT-R, some call Godzilla, injured British television presenter Jeremy Clarkson’s neck while he was filming in Japan.
The Leaf EV, touted to be the next generation automobile is on the opposite side of the spectrum. It has divorced the fuel station, so from that perspective it cannot survive in India as we don’t have the supporting infrastructure and charging terminals. The Leaf travels 160km on a full charge and uses Lithium Ion batteries. It is marketed as an environmentally friendly and economical family car.
The Leaf EV is a brand shaping tool and though India’s not ready for it, any form of everyday transport that does not run on petrol or diesel is a crowd puller. Besides these exhibits, Nissan will not miss out the opportunity of displaying its existing model portfolio.
The Nissan GT-R, Honda FCX Clarity, Volkswagen Golf and Fiat 500 took crowns in this year’s World Car of the Year awards at the New York International Auto Show yesterday morning.
Nissan GT-R- World Performance Car of the Year
The GT-R toppled the competition which had all its real and virtual world rivals- Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 and Porsche 911 Carrera.
