Williams badging not ruled out for special-edition Nissans

10:29 am, August 18, 2016

NISSAN hasn’t ruled out badging one of its performance cars as a ‘Williams’.

Following the successful partnership between the Formula 1 manufacturer and the Japanese firm producing the BladeGlider, the head of the Nissan’s EV project has admitted that using a Williams badge on a production car is still up for grabs.

The two firms worked incredibly closely on the arrow-shaped EV concept which is designed to showcase the future direction of the firm’s sports car and electrification – and it’s a partnership that has paid dividends already.

Gareth Dunsmore, director of EVs for Nissan Europe, said: ‘Nothing has been ruled out. Our partnership with Williams is currently about developing BladeGlider, but who knows what will happen in the future.’

Williams’ most famous road going partnership

Williams’ most famous road car tie-up was with Renault – one part of the Renault-Nissan Alliance – on the Clio hatchback. The Clio Williams attained cult status and was so popular it was made in three editions.

With the tie-up between the two firms deeply rooted in electric cars it would make sense for performance variants or special editions of future electric cars to feature Williams badging.

Dunsmore remained tight-lipped when quizzed on the possibility, though, adding that so far the firms have been concentrating on making the BladeGlider.

However, with Williams’ F1 know-how and expertise in using electrification to enhance its race cars and Nissan’s desire to make its EVs more exciting, a long-term partnership looks highly likely.