Automotive

Taking the Nissan Motorsports brand to the next level

Headquarters: Yokohama, Japan
Technology Stack: Storyblok, React.js, Next.js, Vercel, Sketchfab

40% ↓ Development Time
100% Lighthouse Accessibility
100% Lighthouse SEO

Nissan Motorsports (NISMO) is the high-performance division of Nissan Motor Co., created by an elite team of engineers. They test cars on drivers who have worked, driven and won at all levels. Their goal is to build road cars like the legendary Gran Turismo Racer (GTR). Cars that allow them to deliver exhilarating excitement for drivers.

Storyblok’s Partner, Razorfish France, built NISMO’s new website. They elevated the brand visually with a more graphically advanced website built on Storyblok

Storyblok played a pivotal role in the success of the NISMO project. Its integration with technologies we typically use at Nissan, streamlined our development process. This allowed us to avoid unnecessary maintenance costs and efforts.

Anthony Labadi Technical Partner at Razorfish France

The challenge of taking NISMO’s brand to the next level

To take the NISMO brand to the next level visually, they had to overcome a few challenges. The previous setup was lagging behind in terms of user experience for both NISMO and fans. This was due to the brand using multiple websites instead of a unified ecosystem. Thus, Razorfish France’s objectives for the project were clear from the beginning:

Unify the NISMO ecosystem into a single online platform.
Modernize the brand experience.
Modernize the design and technology stack.

The ultimate goal was to deliver a more immersive experience. An experience through a more impactful and modern user interface and charter. An experience that reflects the brand's DNA and modernizes the aging technology stack.

A modern website with Storyblok

Storyblok has greatly facilitated the development and deployment of the site. Thanks to its flexibility and efficiency, we reduced our development time by 30 to 40%. These allowed us to focus on improving user experience while avoiding the need for heavy plugins and constant updates.

Alexis Domine Project Director at Razorfish

To build NISMO’s advanced website, Razorfish France used a frontend based on React.js and Next.js. The solution is hosted on Vercel with Sketchfab for 3D rendering and Storyblok as the headless CMS. This combination created many advantages:

Reduced hosting costs: By combining Storyblok and Vercel for hosting, Razorfish France were able to minimize hosting costs and maximize the resources used.
Reduced development time: Razorfish France was able to reduce development time by up to 40%, allowing them to focus on other important aspects of the NISMO project.
Storyblok's Visual Editor: The CMS’s flexibility as well as the ability to visualize the content in real-time, played a big role in the decision process.

One of Storyblok's major assets is the ability to visualize page modifications in real-time, a distinctive advantage over other headless CMSs. But, also its flexibility in terms of content type management. This made the training of our team quick and intuitive.

Anthony Labadi Technical Partner at Razorfish France

A website that reflects the brand's DNA

The Razorfish France team enjoyed working on this project as the result was a creative website with a modern tech solution. NISMO’s team was also very satisfied with the new website and its modern design. Moreover, with Storyblok at the center, as well as Razorfish France’s efforts, they delivered excellent Lighthouse Scores. These include 100% in accessibility, best practices, and SEO.

The site showcases NISMO’s vehicles, such as the Ariya concept car, GT racing, and FormulaE. SUPER GT is the top level of sportscar racing in Japan. NISMO has been ever-present in SUPER GT and its predecessor, the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship, since 1993.

FormulaE are International Automobile Federation (FIA) electric cars. Nissan made its all-electric racing debut in Season 5 (2018/19) of the ABB Group FIA Formula E World Championship. With this, it became the first and only Japanese manufacturer to enter the series. All this and more lives on NISMO’s new site, which now reflects the brand's DNA. The site is available in English with a Japanese version planned for the near future.