Filed under: Classics, Audi, Chevrolet, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Porsche

A few weeks ago, we bid a fond happy 40th anniversary to the automotive dark ages of 1973-84 that have come to be known as “The Malaise Era” – the performance ice-age when 160 horsepower was a lot and a 0-60 time of under 10 seconds was remarkable. Like music in the 1980s, everything in automobiledom didn’t suck, however. There were a few bright spots. Here are five of our favorites:

1976-79 Porsche 930, aka 911 Turbo Carrera (above)
Photo Credit: Dorotheum

While Chevrolet beat them by a decade with the turbocharged Corvair Corsa, the Germans more fully developed turbocharging through racing where General Motors couldn’t. Early Porsche 930s (known technically as 911 Turbo Carreras) were a bit crude, with turbo lag that could be measured with an egg timer. They lacked an intercooler as well as brakes that were up to the task, but performance was sensational, with the buff books reporting 0-60 times of anywhere from 4.9 to 5.8 seconds and quarter-mile times of under 14 seconds. This was ’60s muscle car performance at the height of the Malaise Era. Sadly, the 930 cost about six times as much as your average muscle car did.

Rob Sass is the Publisher of Hagerty Classic Cars magazine. He is a regular contributor to the automotive section of the New York Times and is the author of “Ran When Parked, Advice and Adventures from the Affordable Underbelly of Car Collecting.”

Continue reading Malaise Era All-Stars

Malaise Era All-Stars originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 17 May 2013 16:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Nissan 370Z Nismo undergoes a few changes for the 2014 model year, most of them cosmetic.

On the outside, Nissan’s tuning arm adds a new shade of dark gray. Nismo drops Magma Red from the available exterior colors and replaces it with Solid Red. The new paint choices now are Gun Metallic, Magnetic Black, Pearl White, as well as the previously mentioned Solid Red. Nismo adds an exclusive pinstripe accent design to the sports car’s spoiler, side mirrors, lower side sills, front grille, and front and rear bumpers.

Inside, Nismo adds red accents and Alcantara (artificial suede) elements to the steering wheel. A new tachometer completes the update. Says Pierre Loing, vice president, Product and Advanced Planning and Strategy of Nissan Americas: “The 370Z Nismo, since its introduction as part of the original Nissan 350Z lineup, has embodied the spirit of Nismo—race-proven engineering that is attainable. With the enhancements for the 2014 model year and the addition of the new Juke Nismo, we’re unifying the look and feel of these distinctive Nismo models and paving the way for additional Nismo vehicles to follow.”

The 2014 Nissan Nismo 370Z goes on sale this summer. A potent 3.7-liter V-6 continues to be the only power plant. A sports car through and through, the 370Z Nismo comes with a six-speed manual transmission. Together, this combo gushes 350 horsepower and 276 lb.-ft. of torque.

Written by Joel Arellano.

Filed under: Hatchback, Nissan, First Drives, Electric

If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It

Look at the 2013 Nissan Leaf – even one parked next to a 2012 model – and you’ll be hard-pressed to spot the differences. Changes and updates have been made, but you have to know the details to tell. It’s sort of like listening to a hipster tell you why Interpol and The National have completely different sounds.

Nissan says it didn’t reinvent the Leaf because what the company has created is working. Over 25,000 Leafs have been sold in the US – 62,000 around the world – since the car went on sale in late 2010. That may not sound like a lot, but it’s heads and shoulders above any other all-electric car available anywhere. The car has its detractors – boy, does it ever – but Nissan knows it’s hard to argue with real-world success.

We recently spent a few hours driving the new Leaf – an SL-trim version, optioned out to $36,910 – around the hills of central Tennessee after a visit to Nissan’s new 475,000 square-foot battery plant. What we learned there provided a lot of hints about the company’s electric future. Nissan may be leading today, but company head Carlos Ghosn has made huge, multi-billion-dollar bets on zero-emission technology and the rest of the world has been very slow to prove him right.

Continue reading 2013 Nissan Leaf [w/video]

2013 Nissan Leaf [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 16 May 2013 11:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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With all apologies to the ferociously fast Nissan GT-R, it’s the Altima sedan that will battle to uphold “supercar” honors for the company this weekend. When Australia’s V8 Supercars Championship series holds its first-ever U.S. race, it will feature four Nissan Altima race cars on the starting grid. With the retail Altima currently built in Tennessee for American customers, the event represents a homecoming of sorts for the Nissan teams.

“It’s pretty cool to be a part of the V8 Supercars racing in North America, especially with Nissan in what is the ‘home’ of the Altima,” said Michael Caruso, who drives the #36 Norton 360 Nissan Altima. “It’s great that we get the opportunity to race in front to a crowd where the car is pretty well known.”

Added Todd Kelly, who pilots the #15 Jack Daniels Nissan Altima: “It has always been a dream of mine to race in America, and for the life of me, I never thought we’d have the opportunity to take our own cars over there. … There will be a bit of pressure, and as always, we’ll be pushing as hard as we can to get the cars up the front.”

For those new to the V8 Supercars scene, it’s similar to the NASCAR series, featuring vehicles based on everyday family-style sedans. But the Australian contests are held strictly on road courses, such as the new Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas, where the series will visit from May 17-19, 2013.

The action opens with qualifying on Friday, followed by two full days of racing.

For more info or to purchase tickets, check out http://circuitoftheamericas.com/v8-supercars.

The new Nissan LEAF in Tacoma has added another honor to its many with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s “2013 Top Safety Pick” award. This award was designed to recognize vehicles for their excellence in the four different passenger safety tests.

The LEAF earned top ratings in front, side, rollover and rear crash tests. The 2013 Nissan Altima is also a 2013 Top Safety Pick, showing Nissan prioritizes safety in their new vehicles.

“Driver and passenger safety are top priorities for Nissan and the ‘Top Safety Pick’ designation by IIHS reflects the design and innovation that have gone into this car to make it a practical, no-compromise electric vehicle,” said Erik Gottfried, Nissan’s director of electric vehicle sales and marketing. “The new, U.S.-assembled 2013 Nissan LEAF provides customers with a remarkable level of value, comfort and security at prices competitive with gas-powered cars in a fun-to-drive package.”

For more information about the LEAF, or to take a look at any Nissan vehicle, contact Larson Nissan.

Filed under: Minivan/Van, Work, Chevrolet, GM, Nissan

Your eyes do not deceive you – that is, in fact, a Nissan NV200 work van with Chevrolet badging. General Motors and Nissan today announced a partnership where the Japanese automaker will build Bowtie-badged vans for Chevy dealers to sell throughout the United States and Canada. The new van, called the City Express, is expected to go on sale in the fall of 2014.

“Our fleet customers have asked us for an entry in the commercial small van segment, so this addition to the Chevrolet portfolio will strengthen our position with fleets and our commercial customers,” Ed Peper, US vice president of GM fleet and commercial sales, said in a press release.

No details have been released regarding specific changes for the new City Express, though from the images released today, it’s clear that the vehicle’s front fascia has been reworked, and some super-sexy new wheel covers have been added. If we’re honest, the NV200 wasn’t all that pretty to begin with, and this, well, isn’t any better. Not that looks are of primary concern in the commercial truck business, of course.

Nissan already sells the NV200 in several global markets; it has even been selected as the New York City Taxi of Tomorrow. Pricing for the new City Express will be revealed closer to the van’s launch, and we’ll be curious to see how it lines up with the NV200′s numbers. Either way, we think this has all the signs of a win-win for both companies – Nissan has the capacity and Chevy has a pretty pronounced need for modern commercial vans.

Have a look below for the official press release from GM.

Continue reading Nissan NV200 puts on a Bowtie as new Chevy City Express

Nissan NV200 puts on a Bowtie as new Chevy City Express originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 14 May 2013 11:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Truck, Videos, Nissan, Humor

Let this be a lesson to those of you who plan to visit Unalaska, Alaska (yes, it’s a real city on Unalaska Island in the Aleutian Islands): If you park at Safeway with a garbage bag full of fish fillets in your pickup’s bed, the eagles will find you. That’s what happened above when an unidentified man parked his Nissan and returned to find a convocation of bald eagles feasting on his fish.

Neither the man nor those parked near his truck could get to their cars for fear of getting a beatdown from The ‘Murica Bird, and police were called to break it up, which they did with neither beast nor fowl injured in the process.

Other than being awesome watching, other things we can take away from this video are the question who comes up with bird gathering names (a “murmuration” of herons and an “unkindness” of ravens?), and the bounty of this comment left by user “Abraham” at the KUCB news report: “It’s just that the luxury edition has so much more eagle, it saddens me to think of you missing out.” See what caused it all in the video below.

Continue reading Convocation of eagles takes over bed of Nissan pickup

Convocation of eagles takes over bed of Nissan pickup originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 13 May 2013 12:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Car Buying, Nissan

Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn has just one teensy-weensy request for its United States arm: Double your sales by 2017.

“China was not our biggest, I would say, disappointment. It was mainly the United States. We were expecting a strong year in the United States. It didn’t happen,” Ghosn said, speaking at a conference after announcing Nissan’s 2012 fiscal results, Automotive News reports. Because of this, Ghosn has ordered his US executives to iron out the problems that affected new vehicle launches and to strengthen the company’s dealer network.

In 2012, Nissan’s US sales rose to 1.1 million units – a five-percent increase, and a record, at that. But the company’s overall market share fell from 8.2 percent to 7.7 percent, putting the company further away from its goal of having a 10-percent stake overall.

Automotive News reports that the plan to increase sales includes increasing the number of dealerships in the US, doubling per-store sales and boosting its marketing efforts in key demographic groups. All we can say is: Good luck.

Ghosn orders Nissan USA to double sales by 2017 originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 13 May 2013 13:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Nissan, Earnings/Financials

The news for Nissan is good when it comes to the company’s results for the 2012 financial year that ended on March 31. Even though the numbers were down in many of the world’s major markets, increased sales in the US, Brazil and the Middle East, ten new models and a strong fourth quarter allowed Nissan to hit its target for the year and notch record sales of 4.914 million units globally. On net revenue of $116 billion, Nissan posted net income of $4.13 billion and an operating profit of $6.31 billion.

There are upward-looking projections for this year, Nissan forecasting a 7.8-percent jump in sales to 5.3 million units, with $117.89 billion in net revenue and $4.42 billion in net income. That net revenue number probably won’t actually match what’s reported next year, though, because Nissan is changing its accounting method and won’t include revenue and operating profit results from its joint venture with China’s Dongfeng. Net income doesn’t change under the new method, but the adjusted net revenue forecast is $109.16 billion.

There’s a press release and two videos below with more details for those of you who go gaga for annual reports.

Continue reading Nissan reports $4.13B net income for 2012

Nissan reports $4.13B net income for 2012 originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 11 May 2013 12:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Classics, Coupe, Performance, Videos, Nissan, Canada

Kevin Reimer has an interesting career and a fascinating car. The resident of Vancouver, BC is a professional downhill skateboarder – which we now know is a thing you can be – who sees a lot of commonality between his extreme occupation and his cherry 1991 Nissan Skyline GT-R.

The subjects of the latest Petrolicious joint, Racing Champions, Reimer waxes philosophical about skateboarding and driving down some of the same routes. You’ll not be surprised to hear that riding the curves of a mountain slope, be it on a deck or in a bucket seat, both rely on grip and nerve in various measure. Scroll down to see for yourself, and don’t miss the rest of our Petrolicious library when you’re done.

Continue reading What does a world-class downhill skateboarder drive? Something very cool

What does a world-class downhill skateboarder drive? Something very cool originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 09 May 2013 16:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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