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The Nissan Skyline (Japanese: 日産・スカイライン, Hepburn: Nissan Sukairain) is a brand of automobile originally produced by the Prince Motor Company starting in 1957, and then by Nissan after the two companies merged in 1967. After the merger, the Skyline and its larger counterpart, the Nissan Gloria, were sold in Japan at dealership sales channels called Nissan Prince Shop. The Skyline was largely designed and engineered by Shinichiro Sakurai from inception, and he remained a chief influence of the car until his death in 2011. Skylines are available in either coupé, or sedan body styles, plus station wagon, crossover, convertible and pickup/sedan delivery body styles. The later models are most commonly known by their trademark round brake and tail lights. While not distributed in the United States until its importation as the Infiniti G, the Skyline's prominence (particularly for the GT-R variant) in video games, movies and magazines resulted in many such cars being imported there, and makes up a large amount of second-hand Japanese car imports to Europe and North America. The majority of Skyline models are rear-wheel drive, with all-wheel drive being available since the eighth-generation's debut. The eleventh-generation Skyline (V35) was another major turning point for the nameplate, as it dropped some of the previous generation Skyline's trademark characteristics such as the straight-six engine (replaced with a V6) and turbocharging (reintroduced in the thirteenth-generation/V37 model), and eventually separated the GT-R into its own line. Nissan decided to retain the Skyline for the luxury-sport market segment, while its platform-mate, the 350Z, revived the Z line of pure sports cars. The V35 was the first Skyline made for export to North America, being sold under Nissan's luxury marque Infiniti as the G35 in 2002. The Skyline (V36/J50) is sold in Europe, North America, South Korea, Taiwan, and the Middle East as the Infiniti G37 and EX respectively. On April 12, 2010 a Guinness Book of Records[citation needed] event took place with 225 Skylines taking part in a parade lap at the ISTS at Silverstone UK, which produced two world records: the most recorded Skylines at one meet at one time, and most Skylines on a track at the same time.
