Williams has been putting itself about a bit recently, collaborating with Jaguar on its C-X75, producing batteries
for Formula E
and now announcing a new collaboration with Nissan to build road cars. Apparently.
Yes, we're all thinking it...
Given that Nissan told us "NISMO
isn't necessarily for petrolheads
" and now, rather, a performance
trim level
Jukes et al
the announcement that "Williams Advanced Engineering will join the engineering development team from NISMO currently working on developing future Nismo products for launch worldwide from 2014 and beyond" is an interesting one.
NISMO's president Shoichi Miyatani is quoted in the announcement as saying "NISMO is a brand built from over 30 years of racing experience and so it is fitting that we chose to work with a like-minded company such as Williams to develop the higher performance versions of our products." With Williams' public divorce from Renault in F1 ruling out a new-age Clio Williams it does at least means Nissan-Renault can continue to stake a claim on the name for a bit of showroom gloss.
Are we really going to see a Williams-NISMO GT-R?
But is all this talk of road cars something of a smokescreen for other activities? Yes, we're looking at you NISMO ZEOD RC '
son of DeltaWing
Look at the quote from Frank Williams also contained in the release. "Williams Advanced Engineering has a history of developing world class, high performance products and this agreement is particularly exciting because of the ambition and potential of the NISMO brand. Both parties share a passion for racing and cutting edge technology and this collaboration will see us work closely together to develop cars that will be at the forefront of automotive technology."
Then add in that aforementioned Formula E battery technology and experience of working on Jaguar's hybrid pairing of a screaming F1 reject petrol engine and electric motors and you get the impression road cars aren't really the focus. Throw in that Nissan's motorsport man Darren Cox promised the internal combustion aspect of the ZEOD RC's drivetrain would be "radical" and it's easy to speculate on the real reasons for this tie up. Well, the man from Nissan invited us to do just that.
More likely Williams tech to power ZEOD RC
It's more likely that than a gold-wheeled Micra Williams in the mould of the much loved Clio of old...