Nissan: What Makes You Innovative?

#CuttingEdgeSport asks Andreas Sigl, Director, Global Brand & Sponsorship Strategy at Nissan Motor Corporation, what makes the car manufacturer an innovative brand?

“If you look at us, how we operate, build our cars, we value challenges and we really want to challenge conventions. When we went into racing and started an academy for gamers – we say you don’t have to be a race driver to be a superstar, you can be a gamer and we can turn you into a driver, and now we have ex-gamers in genuine real life races!”

The GT Academy is a driver discovery/development program started in 2008 through a collaboration between Gran Turismo and Nissan. Online qualifiers are held within the game, and the top qualifiers are invited to National Finals in each participating country. Those who pass this final will then participate in a Race Camp held at Silverstone, UK, for the final selection. The final winner will undergo an intensive Driver Development Programme designed by Nissan, and will participate in races around the world as a professional driver.

Remarkably, Lucas Ordóñez, the first GT Academy winner, achieved his first GT300 Class victory towards the end of last year.

Looking ahead, Sigl sees autonomous driving as the next big field to battle on.

“We declared many years ago that we will be leaders in electric cars – now we make those.

Looking ahead, we want to be leaders in autonomous driving, so now we push the boundaries in that area of innovation, that’s the next step.

“In our partnerships we want to bring the same kind of approach and not accept things are they are. It’s difficult to access sport as a fan or player, we want to break down these barriers, not because we are Robin Hood, but we think ultimately something good will come out of it. We shall see.”

Read the full interview with Andreas Sigl here.