Nissan vs Ze Germans – The battle continues

By Alborz Fallah | July 16th, 2010

You have to give some credit to Nissan, they certainly know how to annoy their competitors. If you’ve read my Nissan GT-R around Phillip Island story you’ll get a sense of the fierce competition that now exists between Porsche and Nissan. Despite Porsche seeing itself in an entirely different class all together, the Japanese company has repeatedly managed to outperform its German rival in numerous motorsport events (mainly in the GT-R).

It all started a few years ago when the new Nissan GT-R’s track time around the Nürburgring beat that of Porsches. Of couse Porsche disputed the lap times and the war of words has been ongoing since then. However, in the last few weeks the adversery has taken an entirely new twist. Nissan has started using modern guerilla marketing to convince potential Porsche, BMW and Audi customers to switch sides.

Under tag-lines such as “The Germans Came Off Wurst” or “How to beat the Germans”, the Japanese giant has taken out massive outdoor advertising billboards to entice buyers. They get even funnier, how about “Kaisers Chiefed”? and “The Winner Hans Down”? The claim in the ads is Nissan’s winning performance against its rivals at the Nürburgring.

The final straw came at the 2010 Goodwood Festival of Speed which saw Nissan deck its cars out with logos of Porsche, BMW and Audi and etch the number of times it had beaten them around the ‘Ring. Simply brilliant marketing.

Sources say Audi and BMW didn’t think much of Nissan’s claims to supremacy, however Nissan has a distinct ability to get under Porsche executives’ skin. This resulted in a complaint being lodged against Nissan and reports suggest there were even threats of legal action against the Japanese company for using Porsche’s logo without permission.

“The problem arose with them using our Porsche crests,” Andrea Baker, head of public relations at Porsche told the Guardian Newspaper (UK). “They are our property and we do not give permission to any company to use our crests without our permission. This applies to any company.“

Nissan couldn’t have hoped for a better reaction, had Porsche not made a fuss about it, I wouldn’t be writing this today. So of course they quickly complied and simply replaced the Porsche logo with the word Porsche instead.

No doubt Porsche as a company is in an entirely different category to Nissan, that much is common sense. Nonetheless, thanks to the Nissan GT-R and its unbelievable performance, the Japanese company has managed to lift its brand awareness to levels previously unimaginable. Nissan 1 – Porsche 0.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1435885244 Yani Hendriawan

lol the guys at nissan are funny

sam

…whats with all the nissan fanboys..nissans nurburgring lap times were a scam, ‘the truth about cars’ exposed it as a big lie…designed to get publicity by a desperate company dreaming to be mentioned in the same breath as porsche…& all their fanboy suckers swallowed it…hahahaha

Aleks

Shutup Sam, this article was meant to be a bit of fun and you had to come here and talk your crap just because you watched one documentary about the cars and now think your an expert on the matter.

Radbloke

Geez, fanboy much?
The Other Brad

Ahah go Nissan
Shak

The Germans Really dont have a sense of Humor. Go Nissan.

Hung Low

Good beer though!

Andronicus

whatever you do….dont mention the war

ridley

dont mention the war?

these guys were buddies in the war lol

andronicus

its a quote from…oh forget it

Radbloke

Yeah, it was funny 30 years ago.

Andrew

No, its still funny

“You started it!”
“No we didn’t”
“Yes you did, you invaded Poland”

Krish

Credit to Nissan – awesome marketing LOL. My friend has the new GTR and by far and away its the quickest, most capable car I have been in/driven in my life. Granted its not the prettiest to look at, but who cares with that much grunt!!
RK

Great marketing. Works too. Even if I had the money for a 911 GT3 I would buy a GTR. Be interesting to see the prices on used GTRs as they age and we start to see 5 year old+ examples hit the market in numbers. I reckon it will hold value quite well for the type of car it is, unfortunately for me.

TomJ

In Australia they probably will, in america they are already trading hands for under 50 (new price is over 80)

Hung Low

Love it, the cheeky bastards!
TomJ

Im not really a fan of the germans or the japanese

What we need is. A 911 turbo and GTR race on the nurburgring. Two cars start side by side. Run the best factory drivers for both of them.

End this once and for all.

Shak

Porsche wont for the fear that the GTR will humiliate them again on home soil, and Nissan wont because….hey no, Nissan will because they know they can!
Hung Low

Only if they use the 997 turbo!

TomJ

I’d be very surprised if a GTR could actually beat a 911 turbo.

Hung Low

So were Porsche!
Apart from the “ring”, the Gtr has bettered the 911T in many comparisons and motor sport events!
Hung Low

In a straight the Porsche walks all over it!

Moey

OMG just shut up Nissan give the GT-R 5 years and watch the crap owners will have to do to them to maintain them I call it a “Disposable Supercar” give bad ratings all you want end of the day you all know what’s better quality wise. PORSCHE

Shak

How do you know that? Are you assuming that because of the brands heritage?

Fenno

I think the GTR will be more than a disposable supercar, as long as Nissan run the model for a long time and keep into the groove of evolving the styling rather than complete changes. It’s the whole aftermarket tuning stigma that give the car a lesser image than it deserves.
JML

Even if the GTR is quicker, I’d still have a Porsche (if I had the dosh!) The GTR is fast by way of techno wizardry, whereas Porsches are driver’s cars. For example, Porsche 997 GT2 kerb weight = 1438kg. R35 GTR kerb weight = 1740kg. That’s more than a Commodore!

Patrick

If you said it’s about the driver, I guess Nissan hires better driver then. Nissan Still win. You can’t beat it.

cwangv

Very good insert picture in the article!!! Particularly the first one!
Nick

GTR is simply better. ..Because Paul the octopus said so !!!!!
ritchie

…this is dirty & below the belt from nissan..compare nissans racing history/success to porsche & it proves they’re whipper snipper snot nosed up-starts.
Porsche have built they’re enviable reputation primarily from motor sport victories at the highest level(f1..lemans, etc)& formidable road cars over a long period of time.
If nissan want the same prestige & recognition, then they should do it the RIGHT WAY..& not by grubby tactics & cheating.

thomas

…yeah, thats spot-on ritchie…making 1 decent car doesnt give them the right to such arrogance & bad taste.
Hung Low

No doubting Porsches rich and successful race history! They were the dominant force in motorsport.
The issue is that after decades of the 911 evolution, Nissan produces this Gtr that does the hardcore stuff as good or better than the Porsche at half the price! After the tantrums from the Porsche camp claiming cheating etc, which in my book is grubby, it is no wonder why Nissan is now stirring the pot!

thomas

no-ones disputing the gtr’s not a good car..the issue is & always has been their nurburgring lap times..NO-ONE has been able to replicate these times or even get close..so nissan did cheat..do some research on the net..rather than take jz nissans word for it…cz thats fanboyish..

john

Regardless of where the truth lies the GTR is one hell of a fast car and is easily the best car on sale today at its price point IMO. Look at the competition in England, Oz and the US at its price. BMW M3, porsche cayman S, C63 AMG etc. All fabulous cars and all around $160k in oz, 50k pounds in the UK etc. None of these cars would know which way the GTR went on a straight or through the corners. What nissan has achieved for the price is simply astonishing. Just too keep up with it in any situation you have too spend over double the price minimum! Top job Nissan!
PS I saw a white GTR the other day for the first time in the metal. I was surprised by the sheer presence of the thing. It is a big car, the exhausts are like bazookas and the sound was nothing like I have read about on the net. Real meaty and just oozed speed from every orifice! The only problem this car has is the badge but at least Nissan have made up for that with Supercar running costs!
topdog

Well you could also say that no one has been able to reproduce the porsche times from everyone that has tried. Theres no dout that there drivers are very familar with there cars and they put better tyes and prob tweak this and that to get times from booth of them. At the end of the day what we have is 2 very fast cars that are so close theres nothing much to separate them except about $200,000. If your not super rich well then its a no brainer to which car you would buy

topdog

Well isnt nissan in one of the biggest and most popular motor sport catergorys, like indy cart there been there for years and done very well in the premier league under the infinity brand

Flying High

Love the fact Nissan are doing that…..love the fact ze Germans are getting hoity-toity about it. I guess the implied ‘you are buying a heap of cr&p if you aren’t buying german’ implications over the years doesn’t figure with them.

When Nissan puts its mind to a sports car, they generally do a great job and it is simply a pleasure to drive.

And I agree that the Nissan GTR has an awesome presence on-road. Much more presence in fact than many porches – esp those that are in the same price bracket. And a s#!tload more bang.
AAA

If one gets to see the products’ performance to the limit everyday like LCD TVs… then there would be 100 times the number of GTRs to Porsches on the road. Most of the car drivers don’t drive the cars to the limit and they just parrot “if it’s brand X it must have great performance”.
noj

The GTR might be quick but it is still Fugly, inside and out.
http://www.AUSmotive.com Liam

Nissan needs to put their balls on the line and race a factory-backed GT-R in the Nürburgring 24 hour race. Until they do that, and win, for me, the Germans are still Kings of the Ring.
Al Juraj

The new Porsche Turbo is just wicked. Several minor tweaks yield a much better car. 0-60 mph only took 2.9s according to C&D, so to 100 kph should be about 3.2 or 3.3. This will surely beat Godzilla around the ring, and resoundingly at that.

Put simply, let’s stop this sissy talk, close Nurburgring for a day for a showdown. A certified scrutineer will make sure none of the cars are modified and official times will be kept at the end of the race.

Shak

But thats the funny thing, Porsche is actually considering the fact that the GTR may beat them and then all this whining they are doing will make them look stupid and stuck up. if Nissan loses all they have to say is , our car costs 200K less and HAS beaten them before.

Dave

I wonder if Porsche would even bother listing the amount of victories it has had over Nissan over many years.

Nissan, might be quick but i dont think of it as a dream car like a Porsche.
9500rpm

911 and GTR both great cars. But let’s face it, you can’t even scratch the surface of either car’s performance on public roads (unless you feeling like killing innocent bystanders).

Even setting aside the price advantage I would take the GTR simply because it is so distinctive. I see a handful of 911s on the road every day, but have only seen one GTR. It looks like nothing else on the road and has incredible presence. Everyone around me was gawping at it. No-one looks twice at a 911 these days. Why bother paying $300k for an invisible car with capabilities you can’t use?
old man

actually,..porsche HAS already won this battle,…the fact is no-one is buying nissans gtr,…they now sell 46 a month in the u.s.,…versus over 500 911′s stateside,…people who actually DO have 100,000 big ones aren’t spending it on a nissan,…with sales figures like that,..i seriously can’t see nissan making their gtr for much longer,…by the way,…the 2010-11 911 turbo craps all over the gtr,…and the turbo s is just insane fast,…0-60 in 2.6 secs.,…so me thinks porsche has actually won THAT battle also!,…granted,…for substantially more money,..but hey,…rich folks want prestige, power, and panache for their money,…which porsche has in spades,…sorry nissan,..you don’t fit the bill,..the playstation generation may love the gtr,..but not the actual folks with the bucks!