Nissan - where did the money go?

[slow13dude]

1989 - R32 GTR (RB26DETT)

1993 - R33 GTST (RB25DET)

1995 - R33 GTR (RB26DETT)

1998 - R34 GTT (RB25DET)

1998 - R34 GTR (RB26DETT)

It's refinement sure, but it's all fundamentally the same engine technology over 15 years - even more if you go back to the RB30E.

Where did all the money go, surely it doesn't send a company broke to refine existing technology?

[(B1) MR_fanny]

if it aint broke and makin money dont fix it:D:D

[666DAN]

surely it doesn't send a company broke to refine existing technology

You've got ro remember the whole reason a company exists...to make money, customer satisfaction is only a concern if you're not making any Why spend profits if you don't need to.

[lwells]

I wasn't aware we drove engines, I thought we drove cars.

LW.

[Cubes]

Remember Nissan were basically broke.

What they should have done with the new Skyline is keep the nice nissan RB, use a 3.5ltr inline six oversquare. Keep the R34 styling and slowly shape it in to a Diablo style supercar.

I don't like their new french styling.

[R324D]

Am i missing something here?? haven't heard the news today but has Nissan gone belly up?

[lwells]

Am i missing something here?? haven't heard the news today but has Nissan gone belly up?

If you look at the years mentioned, those were the pre-Renault, blood red ink days.

LW.

[Cubes]

R324D,

No Nissan are fine.

[slow13dude]

Hmm, OK it looks like most people either don't realise that Nissan nearly went broke and got taken over by Renault, or they don't have thoughts as to why Nissan went broke when they obviously didn't spend the money on R&D given that the technology didn't change much.

[predator]

slow13dude.. i think you will find *why* they didn't revise things majorly over that time is that they didn't *have to*.. Why change something just for the sake of it? If there engines were doing well, and were being manufactured to cost, and being carried across a number of different models. Why spend a heap of R&D developing new engines at that time? when the money could be spent on body and chasis design, marketing, and whatever else.

I think you will find most other companies at the time have gone with similar methodology - come up with a core design that fundementally works well, and overtime revise that basic design with extra little features and extras to improve it.

If you think about it, they stacked up just as good as anything else to come from any other stable in a fairly "common" production level car over all that time. Hell, Holden, (and quite a few other companies worldwide) have only just caught up to the wows of DOHC and everything else which nissan had in their engines in the mid-80's.

[jaik]

Its simple, Nissan got a bloody good deal on buying bulk raw iron, and as such has had a shitload in reserve for the past 2 decades, hence their choice to stick with the mighty iron block.

JK

[KamikazeR33]

keeping an engine basically the same means it would be easily fixable and common to work on.

those late 80's, early 90's were a bad time for japan with one of the worst times economically... hurt everyone

[SAMFISHER]

Most manufacturers engine's have a similar lifespan, 10 + years.

They went broke making too wide a range of platforms and different models.

[silver gts-t]

cough*r32 gtst rb20*cough

[knore]

I heard from alot of different places that development of the R32 GTR cost ALOT of money, and was the start of their financial problems, then with the subsequent end to the japanese supercar era and the japanese currency falling it was out of their hands./

[Rezz]

Guys, Nissan had the RB series engine lifespan planned from the very beginning... they were always going to have the total R+D lifespan pegged at 20 - 25 years. Nissan didn't just suddenly say "geez we're in the sh*t financially after 40 years of building straight 6's, lets build V6's from now on", rather it's a technological, packaging AND financial move. The RB series engines were the best straight 6's in Japan and no other manufacturers really tried to compete at the same level as Nissan.... but where were they gonna go from there?

During the Bubble economy years in Japan, there was serious talk that Japan was going to 'take over the world' financially, so the vibe within Nissan, Japans flagship car manufacturer, was very much a reflection of that: 'let's build the best racing straight 6 in the world and call it the RB26DETT'. So they did. Why the RB26 wasn't changed much over 10 years is pretty much testimony to how good the original design was.

But that was then, now is now, so goodbye RB26...

[tridentt150v]

Don't blame the skyline for nissan's woes, remember they made other models as well.

And I might add other models that were clangers. The skyline series very likely [being a steady seller and sort after model] probably was not the culprit and may even have kept the company afloat for longer than it would've been [if they didn't make skylines].

[[sombody in the know here may be able to provide facts to this theory, I don't have them, just pointing out some broader issues.]]