The Nissan GT-R50 from Italdesign is a unique model of 710 horsepower

The Nissan GT-R marks its 50th anniversary this year, so the Japanese automaker has decided to celebrate with style. Nissan teamed up with the legendary design company Italdesign – which is also celebrating its 50th anniversary this year – to create a custom GT-R, called GT-R50.

First of all, we can tell you that this is not the next generation GT-R much discussed. While the car has not been the subject of a complete overhaul for a decade or so, Nissan is not yet ready to roll out a new model. The GT-R50 was only an excuse for designers to develop their creative muscles and build a car outside the constraints of production vehicles, said Nissan boss Alfonso Albaisa in a statement. "R, it's an exciting celebration of two anniversaries in a provocative and creative way – enveloping one of Nissan's best engineering platforms and Japanese design with Italian coaching Albaisa said. Nissan's in-house design team has actually come up with ideas. Italdesign, whose previous successes include everything from the Maserati Merak to the original Volkswagen Golf, has been tasked with achieving them.

So what's a design team launched on one of the world's most powerful cars? Like the standard GT-R, the style of the GT-R50 will probably have mixed reviews. The GT-R50 retains the same general lines of the GT-R standard, and adds a little more style. The roof is lower, the sides of the body are more curved and the taillights are proud of the bodywork, giving the rear a resemblance to the Nissan Concept 2020 Vision Gran Turismo of 2014. The golden accents make turn the heads when this car passes.

Inside, the changes were not as dramatic. The interior looks like a standard GT-R cabin, but is dressed with a different mix of materials, including carbon fiber trim, and gold accents to match the exterior. Nissan and Italdesign have also equipped a new steering wheel and a group of digital car race style instruments.

Under the skin, the GT-R50 is based on the GT-R NISMO, the most powerful GT-R variant of production. But the hand-built 3.8L bi-turbo V6 now produces 710 hp and 575 lb-ft of torque, compared to 600 hp and 481 lb-ft in the GT-R NISMO stock. This is thanks to bigger turbochargers borrowed from the GT-R GT3 race car and other modifications made to the engine. The six-speed dual-clutch transmission, differentials and driveshafts have been enhanced to handle extra power, and the suspension has also been revised.

The Nissan GT-R50 will make its debut in Europe in July. We would not be surprised if some of the styling elements of the one-off car do it on the next generation GT-R production model, whenever it happens.