Year-to-date sales for August 2010 may look poor, but the numbers are actually much closer to reality now that the Cash for Clunkers scheme has wrapped up. Cash for Clunkers, which offered rebates ranging from $3,000-$4,000 on the purchase of a new car and trade-in of a used car, sent sales skyrocketing in 2009, and...
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Nissan is making sure that supply of their Leaf is tight during the rollout period at the end of 2010. With a total of 200 cars spread around 5 major markets (California, Arizona, Washington, Oregon and Tennessee), this amounts to only a few cars per dealership. While the limited edition status of the initial Leafs...
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Aston Martin‘s Cygnet minicar will come to the United States sometime in 2012 according to Automotive News. The Cygnet will reportedly cost $35,000 despite minimal changes from the Toyota iQ it’s based on. The Cygnet is a risky move for Aston Martin; a product like this is conceivably a good idea in places like London,...
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We don’t mean to speak ill of the dead, but this story is so absurd and pseudo-ironic it’s hard not to view it in that light. Matthew Dieckmann, a California entrepreneur who was helping to develop electric racing motorcycles was killed when the electric motorcycle he was riding collided… with a Toyota Prius. (Honest… we couldn’t make...
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For the first time in two decades, Subaru is expected to debut an all-new 4-cylinder boxer engine later this year, which will be used in most models in its lineup to help improve fuel economy. According to a report by Japan’s Nikkei business daily, the new engine will be between 2.0- and 2.5-liters with improved...
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Mazda is betting that their new lineup of SKY direct injection gasoline and diesel engines will help raise the company’s fleet fuel economy by 30% by 2015. Mazda, which has long refrained from hybrid cars, claims that the next generation 2015 Mazda3 with a SKY-G gasoline engine and a Sky-Drive 6-speed automatic will get 40...
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Suzuki‘s Swift compact car won near universal praise in Europe and Asia, winning Car of the Year awards in the UK and Japan, as well as seeing duty in international rally championships. Suzuki was all set to bring the next generation Swift to North America, as a follow-up to their Kizashi sedan, but the project...
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The Japanese auto industry has always had a well-defined hierarchy, with Toyota, Honda and Nissan locked in a firmly established pecking order. But Toyota’s recent streak of quality problems has caused it to shed sales, causing a disruption in the marketplace. Customers fleeing Toyota are helping to propel the sales numbers of both Nissan and...
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For a mid-cycle update there sure has been quite a lot of hype surrounding the 2012 Nissan GT-R. First came news of new bodywork and suspension tweaks, then came reports of a rear-wheel drive mode. But amidst all these unconfirmed reports, there was no news of a bump in power for the Japanese exotic. Until...
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Along with three new Nissan models, the Japanese automaker is also planning to showcase another trio of debuts for its premium Infiniti brand at the LA Auto Show later this year. Included in the list are the Infiniti M Hybrid, the G25 Sedan and the IPL G Coupe. The M Hybrid uses Infiniti’s 3.5-liter V6...
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Nissan has a trio of debuts planned for the LA Auto Show later this year, with two production models and one alluring concept. First up are the production cars, with the new 2012 Nissan Quest minivan set to add plenty of style (and in a good way this time) to the minivan segment. In addition,...
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After officially debuting the car at the Geneva Auto Show earlier this year, Lexus will release full details and specifications on the CT200h, the world’s first premium hybrid compact, at the upcoming Paris Auto Show. Info set to be released includes expected fuel economy numbers as well as performance stats and pricing. To date, Lexus...
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We’re going to go ahead and apologize in advanced for finding humor in the entire concept and video, but the Toyota Prius out in Japan just got itself a $150 option to install a speaker that emits sound in order to warn nearby pedestrians a hybrid is on its way. There are all sorts of...
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What form of motorsport has the Nissan GT-R not claimed a victory in? It looks like Nissan doesn’t seem to be surrendering the title out in Western Australia anytime soon. For the third straight year, the R35 GT-R has taken the top spot on the podium at the QUIT Targa West Tarmac rally. This year...
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Summer vacation may be coming to a close, but that means it’s time for a whole new season of bringing your kids to school, piano lessons and football tryouts. Consumer Reports has put together a list of new cars that are great for transporting the family around, all ranging in price from just under $20,000...
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Mazda has just unveiled its new Shinari four-door sports coupe in Milan, Italy. The vehicle will set the design tone for all future Mazda models. Recently Mazda announced it would move away from the Nagare design language that has inspired its recent smiley-face models. This new design language will be called Kodo – a Japanese...
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The Nissan Xterra may not have long to live hints Nissan product boss Larry Dominique. In a recent interview with Ward’s, Dominique commented that Xterra segment is, “falling apart.” According to Ward’s internal data, the mid-size SUV category in which the Xterra fits totaled just 211,042 vehicles last year, compared to an all-time high of...
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Mazda officials are considering using a diesel powerplant for the next-generation Mazdaspeed3 hot hatch. According to Car & Driver, Mazda USA product boss Robert Davis made the comments at a decent technology seminar hosted by the Japanese automaker. Davis did say that were the company to go this route “performance wouldn’t be degraded. That’s somewhat...
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Mazda is planning for its future with a new multi-purpose platform that’s being designed to underpin the majority of vehicles in its lineup. According to a report by AutoCar, the new spaceframe will be adaptable in order to accommodate new versions of anything from the Mazda3 to Mazda6 to CX-7. There are even suggestions it...
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With seven years of roaming the streets (in Japan), the second generation Subaru Impreza body became a familiar sight to many. And now that the third generation Impreza STi is out, we’re expecting to see less and less of the second gen bodies. But leave it to the crazy tuners in Japan to come up...
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An unknown builder is currently fabricating up a mid-engine Honda CR-Z, sporting a completely custom widebody and carbon fiber doors. While it may just be a concept car for the upcoming Tokyo Auto Salon, some rumors are hinting that this Honda CR-Z might be being built for the Japanese SuperGT racing series, competing in the...
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Nissan is debuting four new commercials designed to show off their new tag line “Innovation For All”. Showing off a raft of future ideas, like controlling your car’s climate system with an iPhone, and some more recent (like boasting about brake over-ride systems being installed since 2004), Nissan is pushing the new campaign hard, and...
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The early days of the Afghanistan conflict allowed the Toyota pickup entered public consciousness as the vehicle of choice for the Taliban. The images got Toyota some bad press, but it turns out that the Japanese auto maker is pretty much the only game in town. Afghani car dealers estimate that up to 90% of vehicles on...
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Lotus will leverage their partnership with Toyota be equipping a variant of their new, flagship Esprit with the hand-crafted V10 used in the Lexus LFA. This exclusive version would have some stiff competition from the “base” Esprit – said to be powered by the 5.0L V8 from the Lexus IS-F. Lotus cars in the past...
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