, abbreviated as Nismo, is a division of Nissan Motorsports & Customizing focused in motorsport and performance-oriented car models for Nissan. Nismo was initially a company, , formed in 1984 as a result of a merger of two motorsport departments, being the in-house tuning, motorsports and performance subsidiary of Nissan. It has competed in JSPC, JTCC, the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 24 Hours of Daytona. They currently participate in Super GT and Formula E. Nismo ceased to be a company in April 2022 by being merged with sister company Autech into a new Nissan subsidiary, Nissan Motorsport & Customizing.
History
The Nismo story began in 1964 when a local company called Prince Motor Company realized that they could boost their sales by going into the competitive motorsport business. Nismo’s first competitive motor sport debut was on 1 May 1964 − in their first race they ended up coming just short however it was bitter sweet as the Skyline took all positions from 2nd to 6th.
In 1984, Nissan decided that it wanted to merge its two motorsport divisions, founded through the 1960s, they were (known as Publication Division 3), based in its Oppama factory, responsible for the needs of privateer teams and (Special Car Testing Division), within its Ōmori plant, responsible for its factory operations. The company's intention following the merger was to specialize in sportscar racing, but it also provided support for teams competing in the domestic F3 series.
In 1988 the first dedicated race car by Nissan debuted, and saw incredible performance in circuit races. This vehicle was the iconic Nissan Skyline R32, sporting the GT-R badge.
In 1988, Nismo built its first car, the Saurus for motorsport use for its one-make series. The following year they developed the Skyline GT-R for racing as well as building the 500 evolution editions for road use. The R34, the R32’s generational grandchild was the first car to be produced with a V-Spec.
In December 2021, Nissan said it would merge Nismo and sister company Autech (a tuning and conversion operation) into a new company called Nissan Motorsports & Customizing Co., Ltd.. The merge was completed on April 1, 2022.
Products
Products include the GT-R, 370Z, Sentra, Frontier, and the Juke Nismo. Soon to be added to the range is the hatchback Nissan Pulsar Nismo and the electric Nissan Leaf
Tuning kits
Nismo designs and manufactures a range of aftermarket performance parts for Nissan cars including aerodynamics parts such as spoilers and diffusers, alloy wheels, engine and suspension parts. The 2017 Infiniti Q60, being much criticized for its mild exhaust sound, about six months after its introduction had a specially tuned Nismo muffler made available through Infiniti dealers as an aftermarket item.
Most Datsun, Nissan, and Infiniti branded cars have performance parts available from Nismo, either in production or as old stock. For example, Nismo sells parts such as unground cam billets, performance cams, pistons, etc. for the KA24E engine, which was used in the Nissan small pickup truck for several years and also used for the 1989 and 1990 model years of 240SX, a popular car among Import scene enthusiasts (especially Drifters) in North America.
In Japan, the V35 Skyline and Z33 Fairlady have both received several levels of Nismo tuning packages (E-Type, S-Tune, R-Tune, and S1 packages), with a full track spec Fairlady Z debuted at the 2005 Nismo Festival of Speed held at (formerly) Fuji International Raceway.
In February 2007, Nismo announced the launch of the Nismo 380RS. The Nismo 380RS is a factory modified version of the Nissan Z33 Fairlady Z tuned by both Nismo and Autech. Two versions were released, the first was a track-only model called the 380RS-C (C for competition), the second is a street model being sold at Nissan dealers. Both versions use a Nissan VQ series V6 engine, bored and stroked to 3.8L. The track-only 380RS-C makes , and the street version makes approximately . The Nismo 380RS was only sold in Japan.
Production cars
The first Nismo-branded car was the 1987 Skyline R31 GTS-R Group A evolution special limited to 823 examples. This was followed by the 1990 Skyline GT-R Nismo of which only 560 were produced. Both cars featured weight-saving, aerodynamic, performance and reliability improvements necessary for the rigours of Group A competition.