The workers of Nissan’s Tochigi plant, just north of Tokyo, recently finished a Midnight Purple GT-R Premium edition. It isn’t just any GT-R. This is the final GT-R in the R35 generation of “the original supercar.”

Nissan has an incredible performance history. It is one of the few brands that has consistently produced sports cars at multiple price points over the past few decades. It canceled the original Nissan Skyline after the 2002 model year but immediately began work on its replacement. The R35 generation didn’t get the “Skyline” badge, instead lifting the name from the top trim of the Skyline: the GT-R.

The R35 Nissan GT-R, by the numbers

This fifth generation of the supercar features a hand-built twin-turbocharged V6 and a manual transmission. It’s all-wheel drive, and the most powerful variants made 565 horsepower. Nissan has built 48,000 R35s since 2007.

The discontinuation of this generation GT-R, with no replacement in production, leaves the Nissan Z as the automaker’s flagship performance car. While the 2025 GT-R started at $121,090, the Z has an MSRP of $42,970. It’s a retro-styled RWD coupe with a manual transmission and twin-turbo V6. The Nismo trim makes 420 horsepower.

Ivan Espinosa, Nissan CEO, said, “The GT-R will evolve and reemerge in the future.” The company doesn’t take the next generation of this car lightly. Espinosa added, “We don’t have a precise plan finalized today… the GT-R badge is not something that can be applied to just any vehicle.”