UK Nissan GT-R Demand Far Exceeds Supply
Last month I posted that noted hoon, auto journo and buddy of mine Jack Baruth predicted that the GT-R would be a non-starter. Guess who was wrong, at least in Old Blighty? Right, not you. Motor Authority is authoritatively reporting that UK dealers placed orders for 700 GT-Rs in a 48-hour period once Nissan gave them the OK to do so. And they need more. Since Godzilla's seemingly nuclear-powered mill is hand-assembled, the factory boys in Japan can only build so many– just 1,000 examples per month as it turns out. That's 1,000 engines per month for the entire world. Meaning that Tokyo drifters, Google janitors, extended Emirates families and sicko European Anime fetishists all get their Skylines from that same factory. And how can we forget teenage Russian billionaires? Exactly, we can't. As UK drivers seem to get bent over and reamed routinely these days, the worst part is that even with the massive pre-order, British Gran Turismo 5 Prologue fanatics won't be getting their 480 hp (at least) monsters until March of 2009. And by March we mean May. And if Red Ken has his way, London-based potential GT-R owners will be charged £25 an hour for daydreaming about their future rides. In semi-related news, a little birdie informed me that Universal Nissan — our nation's largest Nissan dealer across the street from Universal Studios — will be charging "only" $40K on top of MSRP. Maybe there's hope for Jack?
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I once saw an anime picture of a giant cat holding an umbrella over a little child at a bus stop in the rain. The child, like myself, had quite a confused look on her face. That alone turned me off of anime, except for the ones with cars in them. And on this news story... "In other news, the sky is blue!"
Virtual Insanity, That film is "My Neightbour Totorro". An absolutely delightful film! But you're right, anime is too freaky. I mean, it's far freakier than, say......a giant talking mouse or a rabbit talking to a hunter! As for the tentacles thing. That doesn't mean ALL anime is like that! Loads of violent films comes from Hollywood. Is it fair to say that ALL Americans are violence-loving sociopaths....?
Katie: Yes.
The GT-R was always going to sell well, I don't know what Mr. Baruth was smoking. As Jeremy Clarkson noted, a whole generation raised on Gran Turismo believes that the NSX is the fastest car in the world. With this new generation, Japanese supercars are considered equal to their Italian counterparts. As for anime: The anime that makes it to the West is definitely unrepresentative and mostly twisted. The most popular and mainstream anime in Japan and Asia is very normal, just family and school comedies. I grew up watching Doreamon (little boy with a robot cat), and Meitantei Conan (a kid detective). Not that different from Ninja Turtles or Rescue Rangers. But in the US, it seems that the cultish stuff gets a lot more attention. It makes sense, because the demand for kid's programming is filled by US programming, which means anime is mostly supported by those who have other entertainment needs. So please don't get the impression that anime is all tentacles and possessed vampires killing school girls, that's really a small part of the market. Most anime is very plain vanilla.