A new report coming out of Japan says that the Nissan GT-R will be a pure internal combustion engine model. That’s an unexpected turn, as it was widely believed that the current generation, called the R35, would be succeeded by an electrified R36 of some kind.

Instead, according to a Best Car report, the next GT-R will be a heavily reworked version of the R35. It’s a template many carmakers are turning to these days if they still want to offer a low-volume performance model at a reasonable price — see Subaru BRZ, Dodge Charger, Lexus IS, and Nissan’s own Z.

It had been reported that Kazutoshi Mizuno, the top engineer behind the GT-R, had been developing a mild hybrid version of Godzilla as the R36. However, Mizuno retired from Nissan, delaying that version’s progress. Still, the R35’s end-of-production date in 2022 was said to be a hard stop, so it seemed as if there would be a hiatus where the GT-R skipped at least one model year before the R36 was ready.

Now, according to Best Car, the R36 will continue as a pure gasoline-powered car, picking right up where the R35 leaves off in early 2023. There will be no gap in GT-R model years like the long absence between the R34 and R35.

The article also states that a gasoline-only GT-R might be made possible due to Nissan’s strong position in EV and e-Power hybrid sales. Fuel economy and emissions savings on those fronts can help balance the GT-R bringing down the average in fleet calculations.

Of course, if true, this doesn’t mean the R36 will stay gasoline-only for long, especially if the generation lasts as long as the R35. We can expect continuous improvements as Nissan has done with the current gen, and it’s not a long shot to assume electrification during its lifespan.

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