Nissan's new twin-turbo VRH35 3.5L V8 DOHC engine was mounted in a stressed installation for better chassis rigidity and produced up to 950bhp.

In the 1989 World Sportscar Championship season, Nissan struggled to solve not only reliability problems, but also to find pace from the new chassis and engine.

For 1990, the R89C was campaigned by Nissan for the first race of the World Sportscar Championship until it was replaced by both the R90CK and R90CP.

2 R89Cs would be passed on to privateer teams, with Courage Compétition managing to finish 22nd in the 1990 24 Hours of Le Mans with an ex-factory R89C (chassis #01).

R89C chassis #02 and #04 were rebuilt by Nissan Performance Technology Inc. as R90CP for use by Nismo at Le Mans and in the All-Japan Sports-Prototype Championship in 1990.