Prior to the GT-R global long lead drive up in Sendai Highland circuit Nissan kindly arranged a tour of its plants where the company’s new supercar comes together.









After leaving the hotel we headed straight to the Yokohama plant where in a small cornered off section of the factory the VR38DETT is built. Reminiscent of a Formula 1 workshop, the clean room where the GT-Rs new twin-turbo powerplant is built is meticulously organized. Here, from when the prepped all-aluminium block enters the room, it is built by a single technician from start to finish. To avoid contamination of the components both air temperature and humidity are kept constant and the “takumi” (“specialists” in Japanese), as they are referred to, take their time through the different steps assuring that every build step is done with the outmost care and attention. It takes 200 minutes to built the 3.8 L V6, which means a daily production of 27 engines, but Nissan plans to increase production when sales in the US and Europe begin. Once the engines are completed they are tested on a bench dynamometer to check the power and torque curves.
From here they are sent to Nissan’s Tochigi plant where the GT-R is built which is, by no coincidence, the same place we are taken to next.

As we enter the Tochigi plant, located not to far from the large city of Utsunomiya, we know we are in GT-R country. A brand new R35 GT-R sits in all its glory inside the modern lobby we are greeted in. As the tour proceeds we are extremely surprised that the attention to detail the engine building procedure gets is continued on other components of the car. In a dark corner of one of the plants the GT-R front and rear suspension layouts are assembled, again by a selected group of specialist technicians. Here the Borg-Warner transaxle transmission, again a component that is hand assembled by a single person in another location, is dropped into the rear suspension sub-frame. All other suspension parts are then bolted in place as well as the huge Brembo floating discs and monoblock calipers.

The same is done for the front suspension assembly, which like the rear is then dropped onto the extremely precise laser alignment machine. Here, through a set of lasers, all the geometry and tolerances are checked and finely tuned. It is then on to the main production line where the GT-R is assembled along Nissan Skylines and the US market G35 and G37s. We are not shown how the actual chassis comes together or how the body panels are painted. Nissan uses a lot of innovative technology in this area of the car like aluminium and carbon fiber and its no wonder we are not allowed to see this part of the production, as we are sure there are a lot of confidential processes. So better keep nosey members of the media out of there! As the GT-R enters the main build line the engine is lifted into the engine bay and bolted in as countless workers swarm around from every conceivable angle to add additional ancillaries.

It’s then on to the interior, the wiring looms are laid down and then the dash, while various interior components follow. As we move down to the line we see where the suspension sub frames and rear transaxles we saw being put together earlier are lifted onto the underside of the car and bolted in place. The Bilstein dampers join the show as well as countless other parts like the wheel arch liners. As the car gets to the end of the production line it is driven on to a set of rollers where the engine and driveline are put through their first set of tests consisting of a 120 km/h speed run on the rollers to check everything is working how it should. It is then onto the brightly lit quality control line, where workers check panel gaps, trim fitting, paint finish and overall build quality.


The GT-Rs are then taken outside and handed over to a group of test technicians for the break-in testing. This is carried out on the small test course within the Tochigi plant grounds and consists of a general test making sure that everything is working correctly, as well as a more intense set of procedures. These are done to make sure the huge Brembo brake system and the dual-clutch system are bedded in properly. The cars are lined up on the main straight and accelerated up top third gear. At this point the driver goes hard on the brakes by keeping his foot planted on the accelerator. This is repeated a couple of times and then the cars are taken back into the factory for final checks of various tolerances.


This is done to make sure the GT-R performs 100% from the day the customer drives it out of the dealer. Once a new GT-R is purchased however Nissan still insists that the owner takes it easy for the first 2000 km in order for the engine and gearbox to get properly bedded in. While at the Tochigi plant we also spotted a US market left-hand drive R35 GT-R test car. The US cars will be easily recognizable thanks to the red and amber side markers on the rear and front sides, while there are already rumors out there that due to lower fuel octane in the States, US GT-Rs will be rated to 450HP, so a little loss over the JDM version. Seeing all the steps in the production of the GT-R we still have no idea how Nissan can sell this car for so little!