Nissan will definitely be taking on the Tata Nano, Nissan executive VP Collin Dodge assured the media at the Geneva motor show.

The Tata Nano has been making a killing in India with the release of the Tata Nano. Nissan would also want to have a slice of that emerging markets pie.

Now, their take on an “Ultra Low-Cost Car” is reported to have run into some setbacks but Dodge says that the car will be built. Nissan has delegated the main task of developing the car to its partner Bajaj Auto.

“The partners are aligned to the project and to the agreed objectives. The project is proceeding as planned,” said Bajaj Auto vice-president of business development S Ravikumar.

Three automakers are basically part of the project with the Nissan and Renault alliance working in tandem with Bajaj auto. The project was conceived in 2008 when buzz about the Nano was huge. Nissan is targeting a $3000 price tag on the car.

The Nano sells for $2500.

Nissan just launched a new crossover. With its radical design, Nissan hopes to get into the younger male market and currently sees no direct rival to the car just yet.

The is powered by a range-toping 1.6L turbocharged gasoline engine that churns out 187 bhp – quite a lot, actually, from a 1.6L. A less powerful naturally-aspirated 1.6L gasoline that dishes out 113 bhp is also available. So is a 1.4 diesel.

The 1.6L turbo is only available with a four-wheel drive system with a CVT transmission while the two other engines are for two-wheel drive systems with a six-speed manual.

The car’s longer and bigger than the a Nissan Micra and uses a lengthened version of the Renault Nissan Alliance B platform.

The Juke also comes with options like keyless entry and start, a rear-view cam and automatic headlights making it a not-too-shabby option for the B-segment it intends to contend with.

The Olympics is an advertising dream for many companies since the games basically offer worldwide publicity. The buildup to the 2012 London games is still quite a long way but that’s not stopping automakers to get or create some buzz for themselves.

BMW won the bidding war to supply vehicles to the games and is set to provide 4000 vehicles. Only a small portion of those 4000 vehicles will be electric and that doesn’t quite sit well for Nissan who was one of the rival bidders.

Nissan intends to provide the Leaf to constiture at least half of the fleet had they won the bid.

“As part of our proposition, more than half of the vehicles we were going to supply would have been Leafs,” said a Nissan spokesperson. “Through LOCOGs decision, London has missed out on a significant opportunity to build confidence in electric vehicles in the UK.

Source: Autocar

Looks like Nissan has yet another name to use in marketing their cars – Krom (pronounced “chrome”). You might have heard it attached to the Nissan Cube name. Now, it finds its way to the 2010 Nissan Rogue

The Krom badge is part of Nissan’s Specialty Vehicle Group. It simply adds another trim level to the choices for a particular model. It basically accessorizes the car with either sport packages or, in the case of the Cube, electronics.

For the Rogue, Krom slaps on a sport styl;ing package which include 17-inch aluminum-alloy wheels complete with Continental Conti 4×4 Contact tires, a new front fascia with fog lights and a new sport-tuned exhaust.

Powering the Rogue Krom is a 2.5L 4-cylinder engine with CVT dishing out 170 hp. The car is equipped with ABS and 4-wheel disc brakes.

Source: Nissan

Younger gearheads might only be acquainted with Nissan’s Z cars in the form of the 350Z and the 370Z but the Z badge has been around for 40 years now. Yes. 40 years.

And with that, Nissan launched a new special edition 370Z to pay tribute to the whole line that first started with the 240Z when the company went by the name Datsun. The 240Z is also one of the very first sports cars from Japan.

The limited edition 370 still packs the same 3.7L V6 mated to a proper manual. The car is fitted with the Sport Package option that includes the SynchroRev Match system which automatically blips the throttle on downshifts (on a manual!).

Wrapping up the package are 18-inch alumnimum-alloy wheels and a new “40th Quartz” paint job. The insides get a red leather treatment that’ll be unique to these 40th Anniversary 370Zs.

Source: Autocar

So the biggest sporty thing to come out of Nissan this time of the year is the 370Z Nismo. With no updates to the GT-R, Nissan’s looking into its other offerings.

This here’s the new Fuga luxury saloon. While typically, Infiniti’s Nissan’s luxury brand for non-Japanese markets, there’s no stopping them from offering something under the old Nissan marquee on their home soil.

The car packs either the 2.5L or a 3.6L V6. No power figures yet but A hybrid is reported to be in the making but will be offered at a later date.

The car packs some decent tech expected from Nissan. Helping on ride and handling are double piston shock absorbers which help reduce vibrations.

It’s with the Fuga that Nissan introduced its Navigation-Cooperative Intelligent Pedal which automatically eases off the accelerator pedal back up when it detects that you’re entering a corner too fast.

The car will be sold as the Infiniti M in the US and Euro markets.

So Godzilla (Nissan GT-R) won’t have any updates soon but this here’s something quite cool from Nissan – the Nissan 370Z Nismo.

The 370Z has earned quite the buzz being the replacement for the 350Z which had been quite popular with the street racing crowd. Now we get to see it tuned in the hands of Nissan’s in-house tuner.

The 370Z Nismo has been tuned to get 345 bhp and 276 lb-ft of torque from the 3.7L V6. The boost comes from a remaepped ECU and tweaked exhausts. The engine is mated to a six-speed proper manual.

The top speed’s limited to 155 mph so that’s a bit of a bummer but it can still leave many cars in its dust with its 0-62 mph time of 5.1 seconds.

Visual tweaks include new bumpers, a bigger rear wing, and larger tires.

For those looking for any updates to Godzilla, you might have to wait for 2013 before getting anything from Nissan. Looks like Nissan’s milking its replacement cycle before they make any signficant updates.

Nissan made quite the impression on almost everyone from ordinary gearheads to motoring journalists and even those in motorsports and the industry.

For its price, Nissan has almost achieved the perfect track car with the GT-R shaming even the likes of Porsche. It was too menacing that Toyota even decided to go back to the drawing board with the Lexus LF-A.

So from today until 2013, we’re pegging that Nissan will just have to resort to tuners and perhaps official tuning packages from in-house Nismo to keep stoking the GT-R fire.

Nissan VP Andy Palmer told PistonHeads that the new GT-R will most likely be an evolution to the car, retaining its twin-turbo V6 and a rear transaxle configuration.

Source: PistonHeads

And you thought that there’s little room for improvement for Godzilla. Not in the hands of tuners. Check out this rally-ready Stillen-tuned Nissan GT-R which will be seeing action in this year’s Targa Newfoundland.

The car gets 611 bhp – 131 more than the standard GT-R. It trims the car’s 0-60 time down to 2.9 seconds from 3.4 seconds of the standard car with launch control. Now that’s zippy.

For added race refinements, the car is put on a diet with panels replaced with carbon fiber bits. A new air intake and exhaust plus a new boost controller help increase the power output. The car also has a fully adjustable suspensions and uprated brakes to help it deal with stopping and cornering.

The Targa Newfoundland is a 1,400 mi long road rally held over a period of seven days. This particular GT-R will be driven by the Stillen boss himself – Steve Millen.

Source: Autocar

Nissan just unveiled its latest offering in a growing worldwide fleet of eco vehicles. Nissan Chief Carlos Ghosn rolled in style as he drove the company’s zero-emission electric car on stage for its official unveiling.

Nothing fancy with the car, just a plain sporty blue hatchback. This, we think is a plus given that other eco cars are trying out fancy eco designs that make people who drive them stand out. Some people just want to drive normal looking cars.

Quite an interesting name though – the Leaf. The car is pegged to go 100 miles on a single batter charge. Full charging time is seven hours though a 30 minute quick charge can get bring battery life to 80%. Makes you wonder why it’d take 6.5 hours to get that last 20%.

Prices are expected to be in a competitive range though we expect it to cost just a bit more than traditional gas-powered cars.

Production is pegged for an annual run of 50,000 units which includes units to be exported to US and Europe. The first run will come out of Nissan’s plant in Yokohama. Nissan schedules the car to be on sale in Japan, the U.S. and Europe next year.

Sometimes to much technology in a car scares me. Computers, while eliminating human error, still operates with garbage in and garbage out. That’s enough to scare the paranoid. Still, computer-assisted traction control have definitely made cars much safer. Now, we have the next-generation of cars sporting braking assist.

Here’s Nissan with their “Navigation-Cooperative Intelligent Pedal” (NCIP). If you enter a corner with way too much speed, the system pushes the accelerator back up. The system uses GPS to detect the car’s speed. Once the speed eases off, the system automatically applies the brakes.

Once the throttle is eased off, NCIP automatically applies the brakes. Nissan claims the system is a world first and believes it “reduces the driver’s workload on curvy roads by integrating navigation, accelerator pedal, powertrain and brakes”.

The system will be featured in the upcoming Nissan Fuga saloon together with an Active Stability Assist (ASA) system which distributes. These tech will surely be most welcome to those who find themselves in long winding roads.

In a classic (cliche) Hollywood twist, the Nissan Skyline that Brian O’Connor (Paul Walker) drove and crashed in the second Fast & Furious movie was gone in 600 seconds. Thieves broke into the storage facility in which the car was kept in Sun Valley Los Angeles and got away with the car.

The thieves broke into the facility through metal doors and rode away with the $75,000 car even sideswing a Studebaker and a Porsche Boxster in the getaway. In true movie fashion, huh?

The Skyline was prepped for the movie by professional driver Chris Milano. It took him two years to get the car in the street race-ready build that it had in the movie. We all hope that the police gets to it but in all likelihood, it’s already stripped down in a chop-shop.

There are reported talks in Japan of a possible hybrid variant for the Nissan 370Z, which would give it the distinction of being the first hybrid performance sports car.

The hybrid 370Z will still have the standard main power plant, namely the 3.7-liter VQ-series V6 engine that currently runs the coupe. Of course, since it’s a hybrid, Nissan will be giving it a high-performance plug-in hybrid system—a system that could be first implemented on the range of the Infiniti M.

The hybrid system will utilize a lithium-ion battery pack to power the two-clutch electric motor. The transmission will most likely be limited to automatic. This hybrid system is expected to provide 35 mpg efficiency. That’s a good step up from the 20 mpg on the standard 370Z.

Some point to a clear lack of hybrid alternatives in the performance department, but is this really necessary? Well, now that you’ve got cars like the Tesla Roadster, automakers are looking to get a piece of the action for performance hybrids and electric cars.

Nissan does have a knack for attracting Western attention. For the good part of last year, Nissan captivated car enthusiasts with the GT-R, putting to shame quite a lot of well-established supercar makers with their ultimate track car.

This year, it’s the 370Z now featured with a couple of more variants – the Nismo edition and this one here – the 370Z Roadster.

The 370Z Roadster comes with the same 332-hp 3.&L engine from the hardtop, mated to the same 6-speed manual. A 7-speed automatic flappy-paddle comes an option, unlike the Nismo variant which only comes as a manual.

The 370Z Roadster will come in two trim levels – the base and the 370Z Touring Roadster. No word yet on what the Touring variant will pack. For a sporty car, the Roadster comes up with a pretty decent 18/25 mpg city/highway economy rating.

The new Nissan 370Z might be a car many road racers who like nimble Japanese imports would like to have but for those looking with just more punch, the in-house-tuned 2010 Nismo 370Z should be one for serious consideration over the base model.

The default 3.7L V6 gets mated to a Nismo exhaust system and a retuned engine control module making the engine capable of dishing out 350 horses. Nismo 370Zs only come with a six-speed manual transmission with a rev-matching system.

To keep the car nimble, it has got suspension package that’s got a front strut tower brace, performance dampers, front spring rates increase by 15%, rear coils stiffened by 10%, and thicker stabilizer bars. The package increases the car’s damping factor by 40% at the front and 140% at the rear.

To wrap the package up, the Nismo 370Z also gets a new elongated front fascia, a chin spoiler, new side grills, a huge rear spoiler, and 19-inch aluminum wheels. Inside, the car also gets a few Nismo touches with the wheel and shift knob and logos on the dials and bucket seats.

Source: Automobile Mag

The Nissan GT-R is still quite the supercar specimen and despite the worldwide financial crisis, it still remains to be one of the ultimate track machines to buy for those who can afford it.

It might not be the king of the ‘Ring anymore (edged out by both the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 and the Dodge Viper ACR) but the folks from Nissan aren’t showing any signs of slowing down in their quest for ‘Ring glory. They expect the soon-to-come GT-R Series II to trim down its 7:29 lap time by 5 seconds.

The Series II will feature upgraded suspensions, a retuned gearbox, tires with more grip, and 5 more horses under the hood.

Four to five seconds off its previous lap time means that it still will not be good enough to trump the ‘Vette but a faster GT-R? That would surely put the pricier Porsche 911 in its place. The GT-R might not have the same pedigree but it would surely put a smirk on any GT-R driver’s face when lined up with 911s on the starting grid.

Source: Leftlane

After a period of teasing with only an amazingly-vague design sketch and a front fascia close-up, the public was finally given a view of the actual Nissan Qazana crossover concept. Intended to be a smaller running mate for the Qashqai, the much-anticipated crossover features radical design elements that show an “SUV meets coupe” mentality.

The Qazana’s head designer, Matt Weaver, said that the vehicle is “a hugely optimistic car, which is no bad thing in these difficult times.” He added, “Had it been created in the 1960s it would have counted camper vans, bikes and buggies as its rivals. Infused with that same spirit, there’s nothing quite like it available today.”

Given the hype generated by the Qazana and the promising teaser image of its front fascia, I admit the Qazana looks more bizarre than unique. It seems misshapen, especially as it sits on top of a set of 20-inchers. The headlight designs are sweet, but the body work on this one is just crazy. It’s like the Qazana itself doesn’t know what it wants to be.

Well, this is still the concept, after all. Much could still change before production. The novelty’s here, might as well enjoy it.

Source: Autocar

Sports Illustrated wasn’t satisfied giving us very nice pictures of models in swimsuits. Bar Refaeli sure looked hot as the cover girl but we’re sure that it’s the Danica Patrick spread that gearheads would go for.

Now what we have here is Sports Inllustrated’s YouTube Channel giving us a video of Melissa Haro, Jessica Hart and Damaris Lewis riding the new 2009 Nissan 370Z.

Hey, we’d take what we can get but wouldn’t it be more interesting to just see Danica Patrick powersliding in the car in her bikini?

Nissan will be unveiling the running mate to its widely-anticipated Qashqai crossover at the Geneva Motor Show in March. Dubbed the ‘Qazana’, the new compact crossover concept will be a smaller Qashqai with the same 5-door setup.

Nissan’s UK execs are thrilled about the Qazana concept, saying that it shows what the automaker has in store when it starts to produce its upcoming “unique and exciting car”. The Qazana is intended to occupy the same segment as the new Micra, the supermini that is going to be manufactured in Nissan’s other plants.

It is said that the Sunderland plant made a $100 million investment in the development of the Qazana compact crossover. Most of the development was done exclusively in the UK.

The Qazana is slated for a 2010 model year production. It will be assembled at Nissan’s Sunderland manufacturing plant in Tyne and Wear, England. The only thing revealed last year was a very, very rough teaser sketch showing the outlines of the crossover’s side, but expect some leaks as the Geneva Motor Show nears.

Source: Motor Authority

Japanese car manufacturer Nissan is planning to cut production in its facilities in the United States and Canada as the end of the current fiscal year comes to a close.

Nissan’s North American production run will be cut by some 29,000 units. This effectively puts Nissan 200,000 vehicles short of the projected 1.468 million vehicles produced for this fiscal year. Additionally, production is already down by 12 percent compared to the previous fiscal year.

Here’s the breakdown of the cuts: 14,000 vehicles off the two Ohio (East Liberty and Marysville) facilities, 6,000 off the Lincoln, Alabama facility, and 9,000 off the Canadian factory in Alliston, Ontario.

The good news is that Nissan isn’t planning on cutting personnel for the aforementioned facilities, and that the automaker’s plants aren’t totally shutting down production for an extended period of time. A combination of idled days of production and slower assembly lines will be used to make the production cuts.

Source: Left Lane

Let’s face it, fellow gearheads. The crunch has everyone reeling all over the world. Even in the supposedly resilient Japanese automotive industry, automakers are declaring loses and job cuts. For enthusiasts there also the grim news of the Acura/Honda NSX being either shelved or binned. And that raises the question, will we be able to anticipate any other Godzilla cars from Japan any time soon.

The Nissan GT-R has proven that it is quite a great track car, putting cars twice its price to shame. But if you’re one who thought the Aston Rapide and the Lamborghini Estoque were great ideas, then you might enjoy the prospect of a four-door GT-R that they plan to release in 2011 to be released as an Infiniti. Oh and for those looking for something larger, how about a GT-R based SUV?

For minicar enthusiasts, Honda is also set to unleash an all-new two-door Beat. In addition, an S2000 coupe, is still slated for a 2012 debut at the latest.

For sportscar lovers, the Toyota-Subaru has been shelved but the Lexus V10 LF-A is still on course. Mind you that Lexus has been quite cautious on how they could make the LF-A the definitive Japanese supercar. And with the GT-R already in the market, Lexus has their work cut out for them.

Now we could just hope that these projections still stay on course.

Source: Inside Line

Godzilla just got more reptilian! The COBRA N+ Tuning division at Germany’s Cobra Technology and Lifestyle has come up with a tuned concept for the popular Nissan GT-R, even if sales of the basic GT-R won’t start in Europe until the first quarter of 2009.

The all-wheel drive sports car will be powered by a twin-turbo V6 engine that can turn out 478 horsepower. The Cobra people have made a 2.2 psi increase on the turbo boost. They also tweaked the ECU and attached a couple of sport air filters. These additions help increase the car’s power to 543 horsepower at 502 lb.-ft. of torque.

Additionally, the team is developing an exhaust system with stainless steel tubing and high-flow catalytic converters that should reduce backpressure and help add even more power to the car. The GT-R’s exterior has been heavily customized for aerodynamic performance, while the interior has been modified with leather-and-alcantara-finished carbon-fiber racing seats and six-point harnesses.

The Nissan GT-R COBRA N+ Tuning concept also sports custom yellow decals to further highlight the car’s customized look. With the upgraded features and performance parts, the car should be able to turn some heads and turn out some pockets—especially in the UK.

Source: Motor Authority

The 2009 Nissan Note will feature a host of major changes, designed to amp up the interior and exterior.

One of the major changes will be the inclusion of Nissan’s new Nissan Connect system, which features touch screen functionality for the fully-integrated 2DIN audio and satellite navigation. The interior trim has been updated and the combi-meter shows improved visibility. For the exterior, the 2009 Nissan Note has a redesigned bumper, bonnet, and headlights. The grille has a new black finish, along with the 15-inch and 16-inch alloy wheels for the Acenta and Tekna variants.

The 2009 Note also has improvements on its emission levels and fuel efficiency. The 1.5dCi has a CO2 emission level of 119g/km and can run nearly 63 mpg. The 1.4 is pegged at 139g/km with 48 mpg.

The mini MPV has been previously given a 4-star adult occupant rating by the European New Car Assessment Programme, and the 2009 models should have the same level of safety. Additionally, prices for the new gen are lower than that of the outgoing models.

Source: Motor Torque

There have been leaked details regarding the V-Spec variant of the 2009 Nissan GT-R sports car, showing a focus on trimming the car’s weight by way of an extensive use of carbon fiber. What is more apparent is the lack of any real performance upgrades over the standard GT-R model.

With carbon fiber all over, the GT-R becomes an ultra-light speed demon. The front seats, rear shelf, brakes, rear wing and grille are all made out of carbon fiber. Additionally, the all-aluminum 20-inch wheels help in reducing the vehicle’s weight.

There is an optional mid-range over-boost for the twin-turbo engine. The 3.8-liter V6, however, has the same top output of 473 brake horsepower—so there are really no upgrades on this front. At least the suspension gets some improvements, in the form of a new high-performance Bilstein Damptronic suspension system.

Despite the minimal performance tweaks, the carbon-fiber makeover contributes greatly to improving speed and aerodynamics. According to Nissan, the GT-R V-Spec was 2 seconds faster than the standard GT-R, based on lap times at Japan’s Sendai Highland Raceway.

Source: Autocar

A few days ago, Nissan announced that it was backing out of the Detroit International Auto Show and the Chicago Auto Show in 2009. Now, Nissan is back on for the Chicago show—albeit with no real factory offerings. Nissan’s presence will be provided mostly by local dealers who will showcase some of the automaker’s new models unveiled at the LA Auto Show.

This most likely means that there won’t be any wholly new offerings from Nissan at Chicago. However, those in attendance will be able to see newer models such as the recently-unveiled 370Z.

According to a statement made by Nissan: “After a careful review of this decision with our North Central Region management and our Chicago dealers, we have found a way to maintain a presence at the Chicago show through our dealers… The decision outlined for Chicago does not affect our decision to withdraw from the 2009 North American International Auto Show.”

Such marketing decisions, according to Nissan, are heavily influenced by the current state of the automotive industry. It does make more financial sense to attend just one of the shows, and Nissan would have better incentive to be in Chicago than in Big 3-dominated Detroit.

Source: Detroit Free Press