Nissan estimates that about 1,300 Infiniti M, FX, and EX units have been destroyed by the Japanese tsunami waves. Other 1,000 Nissan units, among them 370Z model, add to the number of vehicles swept away by tsunami.

The Japanese continue to count the losses caused by the Japanese earthquake and tsunami waves produced at the end of the last week. In the same situation are the automakers that owned production lines and dealerships in that area.

Nissan Group published today a press release announcing that the Japanese tsunami damaged at least 2,300 cars, waiting on the Pacific coast to be loaded and transported to USA. From the 2,300 cars damaged, it seems that 1,300 are M, EX and FX units of the Nissan premium division, Infiniti, for the US market. The Japanese vehicles were in a parking lot next to the loading point when the tsunami wave hit.

Nissan cars swept away by the Japanese tsunami wave

In the same Nissan press release it is said that among the cars damaged by the Japanese tsunami were some Nissan 370Z units, as well. Pictures show a pile of Nissan and Inifiniti cars, many of them ending in flames. The cars damaged in Hitachi harbor were built at the Japanese plant in Tochigi, close to the area affected by the tsunami waves.

In Miyagi area, hit by tsunami too, other 1,000 cars built for the local dealerships were damaged by the destroying wave.

The Japanese earthquake produced on Friday, 90 miles away from the Japanese coast, seriously affected the activity of the Japanese brands. Four Japanese automakers seen their production affected by the Japanese earthquake and tsunami.

No related posts.

The World Car of the Year jury has announced the finalists. The winner will be announced at the New York Auto Show 2011, held on April 22.

The organizer of the “World Car of the Year” contest has announced the finalists of the 2011 edition. These are, in alphabetical order,  Audi A8, BMW 5 Series and Nissan Leaf. The three models are “fighting” to general, while the rest cars are “fighting” to categories like: ”World Green Car”, “World Performance Car” and “World Car Design of the Year”. At the “World Green Car” segment, Nissan Leaf will must to face for the first time, since its market debut, the Chevrolet Volt model. While the American model is not an electric car in the true sense of the word, the two models have a battle over a year.

World Car of the Year

The original list of models competing for this title was 39 nominees, chosen by 66 auto journalists from 24 countries. To be eligible for the 2011 “World Car of the Year” edition, a model must be available at least two continents and five countries from 2010 January 1 –  2011 May 30. For this reason, many popular models from America or Europe are not eligible for this award.

This is the list with the finalists from “World Car of the Year” arranged by categories and alphabetical order:

World Car of the Year

World Green Car

World Performance Car

World Car Design of the Year

No related posts.

The guys from Nissan offers a deluxe version of GT-R, called Egoist, which will be made only on order for the demanding customers.

The Japanese from Nissan presented a photo gallery with the Egoist version of GT-R. This version is for those who want a luxurious and exclusive addition at the GT-R board. To achieve this, each GT-R Egoist copy is made on order and is build under the supervision of Kazutoshi Mizuno. Mizuno is known as the “father”of Nissan GT-R. The interior design is handmade with the best leather, while the Bose sound system is individually optimized for each owner.

The engine of the GT-R Egoist version is a V6 twin-turbo unit which offers 530 HP and 451 lb-ft of torque. The down force was increased by 10%, the chassis and the suspension have been modified to improve the handling and to increase the comfort on the road. The acceleration from 0-60 mph is achieved in 3.04 seconds, while the maximum speed is 196 mph. The model performance was not a main focus of the Egoist package, because we are talking by a deluxe version.

The leather used in the GT-R Egoist interior is provided by the Germans from Seton. They have their own herd and can provide up to 20 interior color combinations. Another GT-R Egoist version element is the steering wheel, which is handmade and has a logo designed personal by Kubota-san. On the exterior, GT-R Egoist is offered only in the Ultimate White Opal color.

No related posts.

According to the study of a British company, the fresh winner of the European Car of the Year 2010 award, Nissan Leaf, beats his hybrid or conventional engines rivals when it comes to residual value.

An independent company from Great Britain have analyzed the devaluation criteria fro the freshly elected European Car of the Year 2010, announcing that Nissan Leaf retains 47% of its on the road price, after 3 years and 30,000 miles. According to the analysis of the CAP specialists, the electric vehicle of the Japanese automaker manages to retain a price bigger than any hybrid and diesel models on the market.

The direct result of the information is a fall of maintenance costs of Nissan Leaf, as the Japanese model manages to do better than other models at this chapter, because of the lack of annual check-ups and of the low recharging costs (about 4 US dollars).

“Buyers can be confident that the Leaf will not lose value any faster than a conventional rival, thanks to the verdict of independent industry experts,” claims Paul Willcox, CEO of Nissan Motor GB.

The price tag of Nissan Leaf in Great Britain is of 23.990 sterling pounds (37,810 US dollars), the British bureau of the Japanese automaker opening the orders list since Spetember, this year. The first Leaf cars will hit the British in March next year.

No related posts.

Nissan has published today the first pictures and the first informations about new Nissan GT-R Facelift. The coupe gets under the hood a total of 530 HP.

Although everyone expected to see the facelift of the popular GT-R at Paris Auto Show, Nissan has extended the public waiting to increase the suspense of the debut. The Japanese has published today the first pictures and the first informations of the supercar, and it seems that the guys from Nissan work a lot for this Facelift.

The exterior can be ordered in two new colors, a Meteo Flake Black Pearl and an Aurora Flare Blue Pearl, which can be matched with a new set of wheels, finished in Hyper Black Chrome Blue color, with 20-inch size and Dunlop SP Sport Maxx GT 600 tires. The exterior changes were sustained at a practical purpose and managed to reduce the aerodynamic coefficient from 0.27 to 0.26 cX.

Under the hood, the mechanics and the engineers have worked seriously to extract more resources from the V6 3.8-liter twin-turbo engine. Thanks to the modifications, the power increased from 486 to 530 HP and the torque from 434 lb-ft to 451 lb-ft. Even so, the consumption and the emissions have become smaller.

The public will be able to choose two other new versions of the GT-R, called Club Track and Egoist, which will join with the existing range: Pure Edition, Black Edition, Premium Edition and SpecV. As the name says, the Club Track edition is dedicated to those who feel good on the circuit, and the second, Egoist, is addressed to those which seeking an individualistic look. The edition offers 20 colors for interior and a Bose audio system, premium level.

No related posts.

Nissan Juke Corssover already registered 50,000 orders, a lot more than the Japanese expected for the model.

Nissan revealed that the Juke model registered over 50,000 orders in just four months since its debut on the Japanese market. The model is the latest car of the Japanese automaker on the compact segment. Initially, the Japanese expected to sell 1,300 units a moth, but in July they had a good surprise, when they announced the price for Juke. At the moment, the pre-orders have gone beyond 30,000 units. The deliveries in Europe will start in October, and the American division already has 17,500 customers that signed in to receive additional informations about the model.

Juke is produced in two factories and the guys at Nissan want to also build the model in the plant in Indonesia. The models designed for the European market a built in the plant in Sunderland, Great Britain. The plant in Oppama builds Nissan Juke models for the Japanese market.

Nissan Juke combines features of different models of different segments. So, the guys at Nissan say that their compact SUV received the agility of a sporty coupe, the dexterity of a compact car and the robust character of an SUV. The most powerful element of Juke is the design, which stands out with a lot of courage.

No related posts.

Head of operations at Nissan suggested in an interview that the next generation of the GT-R could be 100% electric.

Toshiyuki Shiga, Nissan’s operations chief, told British publication Autocar that the next generation of the GT-R could be fitted with an electric motor. For now, Shiga could not announce a 100% electric version of its GT-R R36, but believes that electric vehicles could have sporting pretentions and  the Japanese seeks to make sports models in the future, by any means possible.  Toshiuki Shiga also said that the car market is changing and that customer requirements were oriented to ecological vehicles, although there are many reviews of sports models.

Rivals from Toyota have made a sport model for the future in the person of FT-86 and will develop a new economic sport model. The Nissan official  mark, was on the verge of giving away their plans to announce one’s spiritual successor for 200SX, then declined to confirm or deny rumors of such a model. Then Toshiuki Shiga specified that Nissan continues to build cars for driving enthusiasts, but will provide them or provide their real value, not at a reduced price to fight in loss totheir competitors.

The current generation of the GT-R R35 is equipped with a VR38DETT  twin-turbo V6 engine  3.8-liter that provides 485 HP and 588 Nm of torque. The model has a mass of 3813 lb  and has a transmission made by BorgWarner with doubleclutch. The model can accelerate from 0-60 mph in 3.8 seconds without the assistance of the launch control system, and  in 3.2 seconds using the system.  There are voices announcing that the next GT-R will actually be hybrid, and that  Japanese doesn’t risk to  transform the model so drastically by removing the twin-turbo propellers in V6 configuration for electric motors .

No related posts.

Nissan has confirmed the rumors refering at  improving resource of the V6 engine, on GT-R once with the  facelift coming this autumn. Japanese would squeeze the power from this engine up  to 540 HP.

At a week after the first facelift image were made publish of the Nissan GT-R sports model, new information appears in the press.

Aesthetic review package will include, as I said, LED lights integrated into front bumper, placed under lights and a grille with a slightly better defined contours.  Also posterior to adopt a more pronounced deflector, which now includes a brake stop.

Nissan GT-R

But major news will be found under the hood, where it is expected a substantial increase of  engine resources. Nissan seems to have confirmed the review of 3.8 liter V6 biturbo engine, but its capacity is currently a mystery.  Company entourage voices talking about a total capacity between 530 and 540 HP, enough to steal the crown segment on the Porsche 911 Turbo.

Japanese engineers will not stop here, however, the performance coupe will receive a set of radically modified  suspension and a new generation of the “launch control” system.  However, retouching that  will delight the future customers will be the ability to  use engine resources only for rear axle .

No related posts.

Nissan will launch this fall a convertible variant of the model Murano.  Name chosen by the Japanese to this segment pioneer  is Cross Cabriolet.

It was only one week ago that a handful of Nissan dealers were able to preview the seemingly odd Murano convertible, which is set to debut later this year at the Los Angeles Auto Show.

In autumn this year, Nissan aims to revolutionize the SUV segment with an unusual derivative of the model Murano.  Rumors that announcing a convertible version of the SUV were officially confirmed, the public expecting for pioneering a new segment, envisioned by the Japanese automaker.

With almost three months before the opening of the Los Angeles Auto Show, where it will be exhibited for the first time the convertible Murano, appear the  early speculation on the name that this  revolutionary model will carry.  According to unofficial sources, the new derivative with retractable roof would be called CrossCabriolet.

This model, a true first in the automotive world, will be dropped the back doors, will adopt a retractable roof, canvas, and can accommodate four passengers.

Brian Carolin, Nissan Officer for North American market, recently said that the Murano convertible will be a niche car, produced in a limited number of copies to ensure exclusivity. The final result of the project would surprise many car enthusiasts. The new Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet will arrive on the market in early 2011.

No related posts.

Infiniti M35 Hybrid debuts at Los Angeles Auto Show with new G25 and G37 IPL.

The Japanese from Infiniti has officially confirmed that the new M35 hybrid will debut in November at the Los Angeles Auto Show. The model is the first luxury hybrid of the Nissan brand and promises performance similar to those offered by a V8 engine while the fuel consumption will be located at a four-cylinder engine. Meanwhile, the trunk volume will not suffer, and the model aerodynamic will not be forgotten, say the guys from Infiniti. After the launch of this model on the market, the Japanese will develop hybrid versions of other models in the range, such as G, EX and FX.

With M35 Hybrid will debut at Los Angeles Auto Show and G25 model and Infiniti Performance Line G37 Coupe model. Infiniti G25 Sedan is a more accessible version of G range and gives to customers an option that does not require a high level of performance offered by the G37 but looking for a luxury sedan. The model is equipped with a V6 2.5-liter engine that develops 218 HP and is coupled to an automatic gearbox with seven reports. The customers can choose either version with rear-wheel drive or a four-wheel drive version.

The IPL version of G37 Coupe represent the equivalent of BMW M3 in G37 range. The model is equipped with a V6 3.7-liter engine that develops 348 HP and has a sports steering system, sport braking system with aluminum stirrups, with four pistons on front and two piston on rear and more. Although it is not comparable with BMW M3 and Mercedes C63 AMG in terms of power or performance, the guys from Infiniti say that new Infiniti G37 IPL is just at the beginning in terms of their new range of performance.

No related posts.