Nissan GT-R facelift pops up before Big Apple debut

Nissan had a pretty boring teaser for its updated GT-R, slated to show up at the 2016 New York Auto Show. We figured you'd like a closer look, though, and these stumbled-upon spy photos were just the ticket. Captured by Autoblog's photographer extraordinaire Drew Phillips during a shoot for another vehicle, Godzilla's facelift looks to be mild.

Snapped on California's winding canyon roads, we can see the GT-R's new fascia even through the heavy camouflage. The upper intake looks like it's getting even slimmer and the lower grille is larger and deeper. It's hard to tell here, but it also looks a little bit like Nissan has tweaked the front fender vent, extending it about the GT-R badge, but that could be a trick of the light. In back, the only change we can really see are the vents on the sill behind rear wheels. We wouldn't count on changes in the cabin, based on the visible cream-colored buckets, but it's hard to tell from these shots.

Nissan will continue to target the same competition with the 2017 GT-R, a fact that's reinforced by the Chevrolet Corvette that was caught operating alongside Nissan's engineers. It seems strange that we're seeing a standard Corvette, rather than a Z06, but we're sure the engineers had a good reason for it.

Naturally, there should be some changes under the hood, too, but we can't safely elaborate just yet. The GT-R's output has slowly but steadily crept north as the R35 has aged, and it's a safe bet that the trend will continue for the 2017 model. Of course, we'll have the full rundown on Godzilla's latest form next week, when it debuts at the 2016 New York Auto Show. Oh, and if you want a look at Nissan's ho-hum GT-R teaser, we've included it below.





Featured Gallery2017 Nissan GT-R: Spy Shots Source