Nissan

Nissan will show a new car at the Los Angeles Motor Show later this week, which takes unique attributes from at least three different segments to create a vehicle seemingly purpose built for Southern California. Set to go on sale in early 2011, the Murano CrossCabriolet 2011 is an all-wheel drive crossover convertible which Nissan says has plenty of room for four adults, plus enough space for golf bags and luggage, even with the top down.  Read More

Nissan might not be planning on putting all its electric eggs in one basket with the upcoming LEAF. This week the company unveiled its “NISSAN New Mobility CONCEPT’ that takes the form of an ultra-compact 100 percent electric vehicle designed as a convenient mode of transportation for the increasing numbers of the elderly and single person households and also addresses the trend of driving short distance or in smaller groups.  Read More

The convergence of the car and the motorcycle we forecast last year looks set to continue with the first public showing today at EICMA 2010 in Milan of a range of three and four wheeled scooters by Italian start-up Quadro. The start-up is particularly exciting because the company is to be run by Luciano Marabese, the man who designed both the Piaggio MP3 three-wheeled scooter and the Yamaha Tesseract four-wheeled motorcycle shown in 2007. The new machines will use an hydraulic tilting system patented by Marabese. In 2011 we’ll see the 350cc three-wheeled Quadro and later in the year, a 500cc four-wheeler. The four-wheeled motorcycle will evolve into a full family of supersports, hybrid, electric and off-road models, offering better braking, faster cornering and more safety and stability than a motorcycle.  Read More

We've been covering the Nissan LEAF with interest for some time and right on track to meet its previously-stated production deadlines, the 100% electric, Nissan LEAF has gone into manufacture at the Oppama facility in Japan.  Read More

For the past six years, the Los Angeles Auto Show has invited automobile designers to participate in its Design Challenges. The challenge for this year’s show was to come up with a design for “a 1,000lb [453.6kg], four-passenger vehicle that is both comfortable and safe, while delivering satisfactory driving performance without sacrificing the styling consumers’ demand.” Entries are being judged not only for meeting the weight constraint (no more than 1,500 pounds/680 kg with passengers), but also for artistic beauty, comfort, uniqueness of design, roadworthiness, sustainability, performance and user-friendliness. The winner will be announced at the show, on Nov. 18. Here’s a look at some of the higher-profile entries...  Read More

smart USA announced today that it will be collaborating with Nissan on a new five-door car. According to a Memorandum of Understanding between the two companies, smart USA would obtain the rights to procure and distribute a five-door, gasoline powered, B-segment vehicle from Nissan for sale through the smart USA retail dealership network.  Read More

One of the more interesting concepts at the Paris Auto Show which opened yesterday is Nissan's TownPod. Instead of being specifically tailored to the needs of a clearly defined target audience, the Townpod is essentially a blank canvas designed to be adapted to suit the needs of all those individuals who are so individual they are hard to categorize. It's flexible interior is very clever, and being a plug-in electric vehicle, it will have zero local emissions and be cheap to run should it ever see a showroom.  Read More

In preparation for the December release of its much-anticipated all-electric LEAF automobile, Nissan announced this week that it will be selling in-house-designed EV quick chargers. The company plans to install 2,200 standard non-quick chargers in Nissan dealerships throughout Japan, with 200 dealerships offering the new 49-kilowatt/200-volt quick-charging units for sale. The idea is that ultimately, there will always be a charger within 40 kilometers of any one point on the road.  Read More

Without doubt, one of man's greatest delights is to experience firsthand the stereo staccato of an exhaust system trumpeting the sound of a high performance engine being controlled by an expert touch on a mountain road. Sadly, the same engine, exhaust and expert touch become highly anti-social in urban confines, so German tuning company Cobra has come up with the perfect invention for socially-responsible petrolheads – a remote-control exhaust system. At the push of a button, one can engage an electronically controlled flap on the twin 120mm tailpipes, changing the noise from subdued and refined sportiness through to unrestrained and joyful F1-madness … and back again.  Read More