Nissan is bringing a Nismo-branded surprise that could preview the next GT-R to the 2026 Tokyo Auto Salon, and the concept will share the stage with a trio of cool, student-built cars. Each of the cars explores different aspects of the Japanese company’s heritage, including a 1980s race car and the retro Pike cars.
While Nissan isn’t out to compete with the Japanese public education system, the company runs a school called Nissan Automobile Technical College that offers classes about body repairs and car maintenance. Shown above, the first concept took two and a half months to build. It’s a tribute to the 1983 Skyline Super Silhouette race car that’s based on a 1980s R30-generation Skyline sedan to offer a blend of style and practicality that wasn’t available at the time. This unlikely mix explains the name: Re30 Skyline Silhouette.
Nissan’s students added a body kit that includes a huge front splitter, a new-look hood with vents and fins, and flared wheel arches on both ends. The company notes that the students who worked on the car went to significant lengths to make sure that the rear doors remain easy to open and close in spite of the flares. Interior pictures aren’t available, but it’s said to have been left as period-correct as possible.
Nissan
Shown above, the second concept was built over the course of six months by students enrolled in the Maintenance and Customization Department. It’s called Eloura, it’s based on the K13-generation March (which was sold as the Micra in many global markets, including Canada), and it was created as a 21st-century follow-up to the Pike cars. It draws inspiration from the P312-generation Bluebird released in 1959, and Nissan explains that putting an older front end on a newer car was a significant challenge.
The hatchback features a two-tone color scheme called Sky Mirage. Nissan tells us that painting the body blue and the roof white “evokes the image of clouds gracefully swimming in the blue sky.” It looks like the upholstery is white as well, but we’ll need to wait until the Tokyo Auto Salon to get a glimpse of the cabin.
Nissan
The third concept is called Sunny Skyline. It also took six months to build, and the project involved grafting a Hakosuka-inspired front end onto the body of a KB10-generation Sunny Coupe. The massive flares were built from scratch to make the Sunny Skyline look like the baby GT-R that never was. The modifications aren’t simply visual: Power comes from a 2.0-liter SR20 four-cylinder engine borrowed from an S15-generation Silvia. The KB10 is rear-wheel-drive, so it should be a blast to drive.
The three concepts are just that: Concepts. They were built as part of training programs, and they’re not headed to a showroom near you anytime soon. We’re intrigued by the Eloura, however, because it shows that Nissan isn’t out of ideas when it comes to making a modern-day Pike car. Taking a new or late-model car and giving it heritage-inspired styling is still relatively popular in Japan—Mitsuoka’s entire business case is built on that practice. Could we one day see a Nissan-developed follow-up to the classic Pike cars?
AloJapan.com