What is Nismo? History and greatest cars of Nissan's high performance brand
Nissan Motorsports International, or Nismo for short, has some incredible cars and huge motorsports pedigree in its locker
BMW has its ‘M’ Motorsport division, Mercedes-Benz has AMG – and Nissan has Nismo. An abbreviation of Nissan Motorsports International, Nismo is the Japanese brand’s racing and road-going performance car division, and in 2024, the Nismo brand is celebrating its 40th year.
For fans of Japanese cars, and Nissans in particular, Nismo is every bit as significant as those big German motorsport and tuning divisions, and has a motorsport record that plenty of companies would envy.
While the world is changing around us, Nismo continues to offer performance versions of Nissan’s road cars – depending on where you live, you can currently buy an Ariya Nismo, Fairlady Z Nismo, and Note Aura Nismo – as well as competing in motorsport, such as Formula E and Japanese Super GT racing.
History of Nismo
Nismo was established on 17 September 1984 as the in-house tuning and motorsports arm of Nissan. Merging some of the company’s more disparate engineering and motorsport divisions into one – the company had enjoyed plenty of motorsports success prior to 1984, but rarely under one corporate roof – provided renewed focus, and its first real test came in 1986, when Nismo entered the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The Group C Nissan R85V finished 16th that year, then Nissan came 14th with the R88C in 1988, and took an impressive 5th place in 1990 with the R90CP. Unlike its Japanese compatriots at Mazda and Toyota, Nissan has not yet won Le Mans, but it came closest in 1998 with the R390 GT1. The team had much greater success in America’s IMSA racing though, winning 1992’s 24 Hours of Daytona, and the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1989, 1990, and 1991. The less said about 2015’s front-wheel drive GT-R LM Nismo though, the better…
Then there’s touring cars, where the all-conquering R32 Nissan Skyline GT-R, prepared by Nismo to Group A specification, took a pair of dominant victories at Australia’s Bathurst 1000, and multiple titles in the Japanese Touring Car Championship.
That racing experience translated to a string of high-performance road cars too, with Nismo tweaking golden-era Japanese performance models like the Nissan Silvia and Skyline GT-R, and in more recent years, turning its hand to the likes of the 350Z, 370Z and latest Fairlady Z, the Juke crossover, the March (Micra) hatchback, and of course the Porsche-baiting R35 Nissan GT-R.
Nismo’s greatest road and race cars
Nismo might have been born on track, but its back-catalogue doesn’t just include racing cars – it’s offered a fair few road cars over the years too, based on Nissan’s best-known performance models. Below you’ll find five of the most significant – though you’ll be searching in vain for the Nissan Juke Nismo…
Nissan R32 GT-R Group A
This is the car that rewrote the rulebook for group A motor racing, and earned the Nissan Skyline GT-R the nickname ‘Godzilla’. Nissan entered Group A versions of the R32 GT-R into the famous Bathurst 1000 race in Australia in 1991 and 1992, where it dominated, and the Aussie press quickly awarded it that famous nickname on the basis it was a monster from Japan…
The best-known Group A GT-R might be the bright blue Calsonic-sponsored car however, one of several to blitz the opposition in Japanese touring car racing – the cars didn’t lose a single race between 1989 and 1993. Yet being Group A spec, the car wasn’t that far removed from its road-going variants – showing just how brilliant the Skyline GT-R was as a performance car.
Nismo 270R
Unless you spent your childhood welded to the sofa with a PlayStation controller in hand, the Nismo 270R is probably the most unfamiliar car on this list. Launched in 1994, it’s effectively a full Nismo package on the contemporary Nissan Silvia, the car sold in the UK as the tail-happy Nissan 200SX.
Nismo converted only 30 examples to 270R spec, and the car gained its name from modifications that took the standard 2-litre, turbocharged four-cylinder engine from 220PS to 270PS. With a beefier clutch and upgraded intercooler to handle the extra power, and chassis modifications for sharper handling, the 270R also got a unique aero kit, with new front and rear bumpers, a spoiler, and a prominent vent in the bonnet for expelling the extra heat.
Nismo 400R
If the 270 in 270R refers to the car’s horsepower, you can probably guess what the ‘400’ in the Nismo 400R refers to. Probably the brand’s most iconic road car, the 400R was introduced in 1995 and based on the then-new R33 generation of the Skyline GT-R – already a car that wasn’t short of performance, becoming the first production car to dip below eight minutes around the Nürburgring Nordschleife.
Much like the 270R, Nismo shook its entire parts catalogue over the 400R, from the original 2.6-litre twin-turbo straight six being bored and stroked to 2.8 litres, to a larger set of turbos, upgrades to cooling, braking, the exhaust, the clutch, and a set of 18-inch Nismo wheels. Nismo actually quoted a 405PS output, for 0-62mph in four seconds flat, and 300km/h (that’s 186mph) flat out. The 44 cars built are now highly prized by collectors – one sold for more than £700,000 in 2023.
Nissan R390 GT1
No, the R390 GT1 never succeeded at the task it was designed to do: to win at the Le Mans 24 Hours race. But it certainly didn’t do badly. On its debut in 1997, driven by Martin Brundle, it took pole in pre-qualifying and then fourth on the grid for the race itself, and in 1998’s race, the best-placed R390 finished in third, and on the podium – followed by its sister cars in fifth, sixth, and tenth places.
Custom built to GT1 regulations, the R390 used an interaction of Nismo’s 3.5-litre racing V8 engine, and made 650PS – more than Porsche’s 911 GT1 was thought to be making at the time. It was light too, at barely 1,100kg, and like its GT1 rivals, Nissan even made a road-going variant as proof of concept. The sole road car is kept in Nissan’s heritage collection in Zama, Japan.
Nissan GT-R Nismo
The R35 generation Nissan GT-R is not a car that feels like it needs a performance variant - even the very earliest R35s in 2007 made upwards of 480PS and could corner like few other road cars. Yet in 2013 at the Tokyo Motor Show, Nissan revealed a Nismo model, with 600PS, extra aero features, upgraded suspension, stickier tyres, and more powerful brakes.
As the GT-R remained on sale all the way until 2024, there was plenty of scope for updates as Nissan itself refreshed the base car. A revised Nismo GT-R appeared in 2019, with lighter wheels and carbon-ceramic brakes, and it was tweaked again in 2023 with a swan-neck rear wing and a mechanical limited-slip diff at the front axle. All are wildly fast and capable whether on road or track.
Now take a look at our pick of the best Japanese modern classic cars...
