By Gilles Castonguay
What more of a compliment can you get than to have the owner of Ferrari come admire one of your cars?
At the Paris Motor Show Friday, the CEO of Fiat–which holds an 85% stake in Ferrari–Sergio Marchionne went to check out Nissan Motor Co’s GT-R Supercar.
The GT-R is a showcase of the Japanese manufacturer’s engineering prowess. When it comes to speed, it can hold its own against a Porsche or a Ferrari.
AP
Nissan’s 2010 GT-R
“It is one of those unique cars,” Marchionne told reporters. “It is an interesting collection of technology.”
After a routine meeting of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), held on the sidelines of the show, Marchionne followed Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn to a special section of the stand where a white GT-R rested behind a glass enclosure.
He sat in the driver’s seat as Ghosn boasted about some of the features of the car, with its interior finished in soft red leather. It has a 3.8-liter twin turbo V6 engine, making it the fastest car that Nissan has on offer, able to race from a standstill to 100 kilometers per hour in less than five seconds.
On the famed Nordschleife circuit at the Nurburgring race track in Germany, its lap time was 7:38 on a test run a couple of years back.
“I’ve been following it from a distance,” Marchionne said. “(Ghosn) considers it a playground for his engineers,” he said. “What a fun (way) to describe it.”
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