Innovation Is Alive and Well

The innovation that aftermarket companies around the world display is legendary, and the in-house innovative power displayed by some TAS exhibitors showed that the bar has been raised higher this year, particularly when it comes to products that have become highly computerized. Aftermarket companies in Japan had heard dire predictions from inside Nissan that the GT-R would be impossible to modify, so they were prepared for the worst.

A Japanese journalist reportedly had the following experience when test driving a pre-release model of the GT-R. As he approached the main entry gate of Suzuka International Circuit, the car’s GPS-equipped computer warned him in a pleasant voice that once he entered the circuit, the car’s warranty would be voided.

The navigation screen then gave him an "Accept" screen, requiring him to push "Accept" to get rid of the voice. After a couple more times, the voice issued a final warning that the vehicle was recording his driving habits and any damage done to the vehicle at the circuit would not be covered under the new-car warranty at a Nissan dealership.

This story seemed to confirm all the fears that the Japanese aftermarket had about the GT-R being a very difficult vehicle to modify. Once it was in the hands of the 10 or so companies that showed their vehicles at the Tokyo Auto Salon, however, the car proved to be less sensitive to simple modifications than recent Toyota and Lexus releases, for example.

For a start, the vehicle will let you add aftermarket wheels and tires without any problems. Some recent Toyota and Lexus models will not even let you do tire rotation without the entire dash turning red as a "danger warning" when you turn on the ignition. It reportedly costs about $200 USD and a trip to the nearest Toyota dealer to get the dash back to normal again.

Luckily, it seems that the new GT-R is a little easier to customize. Most of the GT-Rs at TAS had aftermarket wheels and tires, but not much else. It will be a while before the degree of accessibility of the vehicle is known. It has only just come out, so even the big players in the market like HKS, BLITZ, Endless and Trust have not had time to develop products for the car.

One indication of how aftermarket innovation has surprised even the automakers was a NISMO (Nissan Motorsports) staffer who commented that he was already amazed at some of the work done by the aftermarket companies on the just-released GT-R, in particular the work performed by HKS engineers on the display GT-R in the HKS booth. Next year the same gentleman will probably see 10 other companies he will be surprised at

A Japanese journalist reportedly had the following experience when test driving a pre-release model of the GT-R. As he approached the main entry gate of Suzuka International Circuit, the car’s GPS-equipped computer warned him in a pleasant voice that once he entered the circuit, the car’s warranty would be voided.

Although the Nissan GT-R will sticker for about $69,000 when it goes on sale in the U.S. later this year, prospective buyers will be hard pressed to find any Nissan dealers to offer the supercar at that price. The combination of the GT-R's limited availability and Nissan's lack of dealer pricing control could see some of the turbocharged coupes going for as high as $129,000 — nearly double the car's MSRP.

Exhaustnote.com called on 15 Nissan dealers through the United States and found that the GT-R will command at least $20,000 over its window sticker. Several dealers even said they were going to handle GT-R sales like an auction, pitting prospective buyers against one another.

One dealership in Carson, California said they would markup the GT-R by about $50,000 — joking the markup would be about the same as a new Nissan 350Z and Sentra.

The highest markup found was $60,000, bringing the GT-R's out-the-door price to a staggering $129,000.

The huge markups are due to extremely limited availability of Nissan's latest supercar — only 1,500 GT-Rs will be available in the U.S. this year. Most dealerships will only get 2 or 3 cars, but most have waiting lists at least 40 people deep.

While Nissan has counseled its dealers on markups — one of the GT-R's greatest assets was supposed to be amazing performance at a value price — the Japanese automaker has no control over how much dealers will actually charge.