Almost 11 years old as of 2018, the Nissan GT-R is pretty long in the tooth. And, even though sales have dropped dramatically in recent years, Nissan is still keeping the supercar into production with mild upgrades. With a new-generation model underway, the Japanese firm teamed up with Italdesign to build the most extreme GT-R to date. It's called the GT-R50 and will make its debut at the 2018 Goodwood Festival of Speed later this week.

The first-even cooperation between Nissan and the famed Italian design company, the GT-R50 will showcased as a concept car. However, the Japanese firm says that the prototype "could become the blueprint for an extremely limited run of hand-built production vehicles." The concept also celebrates the 50th anniversary of the "GT-R" badge and Italdesign.

Although it remains familiar by design, the GT-R50 is significantly different from the regular GT-R. The front fascia has a bigger opening, while the headlamps have been reshaped and now feature horizontal LED strips. The splitter is also bigger than the GT-R Nismo model it is based on. The roof was reshaped too, now sporting a double-bubble design that harkens back to vintage race cars. The rear fenders are beefier, while the side skirts are bigger and more aerodynamic.

Around back, the GT-R50 retains the classic quad taillight configuration, but the fascia has massive cutouts behind the round lights. A big wing that resembles the one seen on the GT-R GT3 race car sits atop the deck lid and behind the reshaped engine hood. Down below, a big splitter with vertical fins and exhaust pipes at the corners occupies almost the entire width of the bumper. The exterior is finished in Liquid Kinetic Gray with Energetic Sigma Gold accents.

Under the hood, the concept cars sports the familiar, hand-assembled, twin-turbo, 3.8-liter V-6 engine, but the unit was upgraded to deliver an estimated 710 horsepower and 575 pound-feet of torque. That's an extra 118 horsepower and 94 pound-feet over the stock Nissan GT-R Nismo. The extra oomph is backed by a revised Bilstein damping system and upgraded Brembo brakes.

Nissan says that if reception at Goodwood and other events is positive, a limited production run may be created by Italdesign. The GT-R50 would be limited to only 50 examples with pricing to start from around €900,000, which converts to around $1.05 million as of July 2018.

Stay tuned for the official unveiling of the GT-R50 and a full review of the concept car.

Celebrates 50 Years of GT-R and Italdesign

Founded in 1968 in Moncalieri, Italy, Italdesign is responsible for a big number of iconic car designs, including the BMW M1, Lotus Esprit, Alfa Romeo Alfasud and Alfetta, Audi 80, Fiat Uno and Panda, Lancia Delta, Maserati MC12 and Merak, DeLorean DMC-12 and the original Volkswagen Golf. It also created concept cars like the Nazca C2, Maserati Boomerang, Volkswagen W12, Lamborghini Cala, and Ferrari GG50.

The GT-R nameplate celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2019, as the Skyline received the badge for the very first time in February 1969. The first-gen car was produced until 1972, while the second-generation coupe was kept on the assembly line in 1973 only. The nameplate returned from 1989 to 1994 for the Skyline R32 model and remained available with the R33 from 1995 until 1998. Produced from 1999 until 2002, the R34 was the last GT-R to also sport the Skyline name.

Further reading

Read our full review on the 2018 Nissan GT-R50 by Italdesign.

Read our full review on the 2017 Nissan GT-R.

Read our full review on the 2017 Nissan GT-R Nismo.

Read more Nissan news.