Dunlop Confirmed as OE for European Spec Nissan GT-R

In December production of the European specification Nissan GT-R gets underway at the company’s Tochigi factory in Japan, and the manufacturer reports a number of small but significant changes have been made to the car. Furthermore the Dunlop SP Sport 600 DSST tyre, previously available as an option on the GT-R, will be standard fitment on the performance Nissan when it arrives in European showrooms.

The tyre, comments Nissan, was developed specifically for the GT-R and it combines grip and durability, as demonstrated during its ‘time-attack’ lap of the Nürburgring, which yielded a time of 7 minutes 29 seconds. And the manufacturer adds that, just to improve the ride performance even further, a modification has been carried out to the suspension spring rate settings. The Dunlop tyres are matched with a gun metal grey coloured Rays seven-spoke alloy wheel design for the standard and Premium Edition GT-Rs, while the Black Edition will be fitted with the same design but, appropriately, in black.

The GT-R’s hand-built 3.8-litre V6 twin-turbo engine has gained 5PS thanks to some fine-tuning of its electronics, taking power output to 485PS, while torque remains unchanged at 588Nm.

To date, Nissan has taken in excess of 2500 customer orders in Europe with 1200 coming from the UK. Deliveries of the GT-R will begin in April through a network of Nissan High Performance Centres, however any orders placed now should arrive in mid 2010, the company says. For customers ordering now, the price of the GT-R will start from £56,795 on the road, with an increase of £1300 for the Premium Edition and another £1300 for the Black Edition.