It's offical: Nissan to join V8 Supercars in 2013

Kelly Racing will field a four car team of Nissans in the 2013 V8 Supercar Championship, as part of the series' Car of the Future strategy.

This will be the first time a manufacturer aside from Holden or Ford has been permitted to contest the category since its inception in 1997.

See Nissan's announcement in video form:

The exact model used to represent the brand is yet to be determined, but is widely tipped to be the mid-sized Nissan Altima, a model yet to be sold in Australia, but likely to be introduced after disappointing sales of the larger Maxima model.

The 2013 Altima is still under development, so the below image is the best clue to the appearance of the racecar.

The four car Nissan Motorsport team will adjust the current proportion of 17 Holden and 11 Ford competitors in the series to a more balanced 13 Holden, 11 Ford and 4 Nissan, assuming no other manufactuers enter the series in the meantime.

The only other  manufacturer with rumoured links to the series at this point is Chrysler, who has been in discussion with Gary Rogers Motorsport.

The announcement was made at 11am this morning at a press conference at Melbourne's Crown Casino. The full press release from V8 Supercars Australia can be found here, and Nissan's here.