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Game changers are products that make an otherwise healthy looking product sector look like it had been stagnating for years. They take industries in completely different directions, leaving competitors behind. I want to put the the Nissan GT-R and iPhone, because it shows the power of flagship products.

Nissan GT-R

The Nissan GT-R has made it look like the sports car engineers in other company’s have been sitting on their hands for the last 10 years. The only new car comparable (4 wheel drive, dedicated sports car) is the Audi R8 which has performance figures of 0-60 in 4.6 seconds, 187 mph top speed, and 1.01 g in the corners. The Nissan GT-R has performance numbers of 0-60 in 3.5 seconds, 195 mph top speed, and 0.99 g in the corners. So the GT-R tromps the R8 in acceleration in and is on par in cornering. Both have performance number you would expect from next generation, $120,000 (US) supercars; but wait, the GT-R isn’t a $120,000 supercar. It’s a $76,840 supercar. To buy a car faster than the GT-R on the Top Gear test track, you will have to spend $191,700 on a Porsche 911 GT2 or $198,000 on a Lambourghini Galardo LP560. But those cars you wouldn’t drive to the office in a snow storm like you could the 4 wheel drive GT-R.

Enough car talk. The Nissan GT-R competes with cars 2 1/2 times it’s price. How? Well I believe it is because of two reasons: working smarter and not harder, and taking losses on each car for the marketing value. The GT-R team of engineers and ex-race car builders had a clear mission. They built a car to be the fastest for anyone, anywhere, any time. Every componant is tuned to be fast and efficient. The supercar’s body was wind tunnel tested so each wheel is pressed against the road with aero downforce, and only then it was styled. It also has a judicious dose of technology, namely the extremely advanced 4 wheel drive system. But the GT-R doesn’t have anything new from cars in the past. It’s no compromise componants just work together cohesively.

The main contributor to the GT-R’s value is the loss Nissan is absorbing based on the marketing value of having the fastest, cheapest super car. Nissan’s previous performance model badges (SE-R and Spec-V) have lost their value of late, but the GT-R supercar would bring a reputation of extreme performance to a GT-R performance line. I wouldn’t be suprised to see a Sentra GT-R, Altima GT-R and Maxima GT-R. The people interested in cars like those would be well aware of the GT-R, and would pay the premium to have even a small piece of the GT-R supercar credibility.

Car people know about this car. Car people are a valuable group to covet, because they have extreme influence on car purchases with their friends and family. Even if Nissan doesn’t leverage it with a performance line, the GT-R has established Nissan as being masters of engineering and technology. Those brand perceptions will transfer to all Nissan cars, whether or not they have anything to do with their supercar big brother. That is a true flagship product.

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By Colin Finkle. Colin Finkle is an industrial designer that works with large brands everyday designing displays for FX Displays in Toronto, Canada. He is the principle designer at Firebrand Creative. He also writes for AMD’s FireUser.com blog.

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