Nissan locks in Bolt

NISSAN has extended its brand ambassador role with the world’s fastest man – Olympic 100-metre and 200-metre champion Usain Bolt – who is the company’s “Director of Excitement”.

Bolt was collected from Narita airport in Tokyo and driven to the press conference announcing the deal by none other than Aussie Formula One driver Mark Webber, whose Red Bull Racing team is sponsored by Nissan affiliate Infiniti.

As part of the deal, a one-off gold-painted GT-R supercar with bespoke interior fittings finished in real gold will soon be auctioned via Ebay to benefit the Usain Bolt Foundation, which creates educational and cultural opportunities for children and young people in his home country of Jamaica.

The Olympic champion first signed with Nissan ahead of the London Games, where he stole the show, and has pledged to defend his titles at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.



Left: Usain Bolt and Mark Webber at Narita Airport in Japan.

Nissan said the sprinter will work with the company’s “product specialists” on a limited-edition ‘Bolt-performance’ version of the GT-R, which will be able to be ordered in markets where it is available, including Australia.

Details of this project will be announced at a later stage, the company said in a statement.

While in Japan, Bolt climbed behind the wheel of various GT-R models at Nissan’s proving ground near Oppama, where the company measured his reaction times, acceleration and other handling capabilities to be used in developing a special ‘Bolt GT-R’ for his personal use.

Bolt will also feature in billboards at airports around the world.

“Racing is my inspiration, and I want to help Nissan become an even more exciting brand for everyone,” said Bolt.