The R89C was designed with Eric Broadley providing the overall design concept; detailed engineering was carried out by Andy Scriven, Clive Lark and Clive Cooper at Lola. The chassis was a Kevlar and carbon-fibre monocoque. The powerplant was Nissan's new twin-turbocharged VRH35 V8: a 3,496 cc DOHC unit producing over 800 PS (588 kW) at 7,600 rpm and over 784 Nm of torque at 5,600 rpm according to Nissan Heritage figures; higher estimates of up to 950 bhp were also cited. The engine was mounted in a stressed installation to improve chassis rigidity. Transmission was a five-speed VGC unit. Double wishbone suspension was fitted at both ends; brakes were 14-inch ventilated discs front and rear.
Four chassis were built by Lola. Chassis 01 and 04 were delivered to Nissan Motorsport Europe for the World Sportscar Championship. Chassis 02 and 03 went to Nissan Motorsport Japan for the JSPC.
In the 1989 World Sportscar Championship, Nissan Motorsport Europe struggled with both reliability problems and a lack of pace. The R89C scored points in only three races and finished the season fifth in the teams' championship.
In the JSPC the Japanese chassis suffered the same difficulties and could not match the pace of developed Porsche and Toyota opponents; Nissan finished third in the championship. At Fuji, the No. 24 YHP car driven by Masahiro Hasemi and Anders Olofsson finished eighth at the Round 5 Fuji GT 1000km, giving a glimpse of the car's potential.
At the 24 Hours of Le Mans, all three entered R89Cs retired with mechanical problems.
For the 1990 World Sportscar Championship Nissan used the R89C only for the opening round before replacing it with the new R90CK and R90CP. The four original chassis then took separate paths.
Chassis 01 passed to Courage Competiton and finished 22nd at the 1990 24 Hours of Le Mans. Chassis 03 was modified by Team Le Mans into the R90V and raced in the 1990 JSPC, recording a best result of sixth before retirement; it also ran at Le Mans in 1990, retiring in the early hours of the morning. Chassis 02 and 04 were rebuilt by Nissan Performance Technology Inc. as R90CP specification and used by Nismo at Le Mans and in the 1990 JSPC.
The No. 23 Calsonic R89C, driven in the JSPC by Kazuyoshi Hoshino and Toshio Suzuki, is preserved in the Nissan Heritage Collection as item No. 118 in the company's official collection of historic vehicles.
The R89C marked a significant escalation in Nissan's international sportscar ambitions. The switch from March Engineering to Lola Cars brought a more sophisticated chassis partner, and the new 3.5-litre VRH35 engine — a move from the earlier 3-litre units — was intended to compete at the front of the Group C field. The full-scale implementation of a telemetry system was also noted as a distinguishing feature of the R89C programme. Although the car was outpaced in its debut season, the lessons learned fed directly into the more competitive R90CK and R90CP that followed it the next year. Nissan would go on to become a consistent front-runner in international sportscar racing in the early 1990s, making the R89C the transitional car between the March era and that later success.