NISMO Opens Its First Performance Centre Outside Japan, at Ferntree Gully Nissan in Melbourne

Nissan's in-house tuning arm has finally put a shop on foreign soil. In a release dated 22 October 2026, Nissan Motorsports & Customizing Co. (NMC) said the first NISMO Performance Center outside Japan is now open inside Ferntree Gully Nissan in Victoria, Australia. More than 300 Nissan and NISMO owners turned up for the opening.

This is not a merchandise counter. The centre is set up to do advanced vehicle restoration work, supply genuine NISMO performance and heritage parts, and put customers in front of factory-certified NISMO Meisters, the same technician grade used at the Omori Factory in Japan. Nissan's Australian release says the programme starts with the R32, R33 and R34 generations of the Skyline GT-R, with more models and regional programmes to follow.

For an Australian R34 owner, that means a worn RB26 or a tired interior can now be quoted by people with a direct line into Omori, instead of shipping the car to Japan or hunting for new old stock on auction sites. NMC says this is the first visible step in a phased plan announced in May 2026, and that more Performance Centres will open in Australia from 2027. Other international locations will be named later.

Why Australia got it first

Australia was never going to be a surprise choice. It is right-hand drive, it has a deep Skyline and GT-R community that grew out of decades of Japanese used imports, and NISMO's parent company already has a works presence there. NMC itself is a recent entity, formed in 2022 by folding together Nissan's motorsport operations, which date back to 1936, the NISMO brand created in 1984, and AUTECH JAPAN from 1986. A restoration and heritage parts business is exactly the kind of thing that structure was built to sell.

What this means for an Indian enthusiast

Not much yet, and the reason is customs rather than NISMO. India allows licence-free import of cars that are 50 years old or older, on a rolling basis, and the age is counted from the date of first registration. In 2025 that covered cars built up to 1975, moving forward one year at a time. An R32 GT-R from 1989 is 37 years old. It does not qualify, and will not for years. Autocar India also notes that these vintage imports can only be brought in by the actual user, resale is prohibited, and customs duty, GST and registration together work out to roughly 250 per cent of the car's invoice value.

So there is no legal, affordable route to a garage full of GT-Rs in India today, which is why there is no business case for a NISMO Performance Centre here. Nissan India's showroom line-up is the Magnite, and the Z and the current GT-R are not sold here at all.

What an Indian owner can take from this is narrower but real. NISMO is now willing to run genuine parts and certified labour through a dealer outside Japan, in a right-hand drive market. If that model works in Melbourne and spreads across Australia from 2027, the nearest counter selling real NISMO heritage parts to an Indian enthusiast will be a freight forwarder away rather than a language barrier away. Keep your expectations on parts, not on importing the car.

Sources

• NISMO delivers first Performance Center outside Japan
• NISMO's first Performance Centre outside Japan officially opens in Australia
• Nismo opens shop in Australia to cater to classic Skyline and GT-R demands
• Import of cars made up to 1975 allowed