New Nissan Tiida (Versa) caught during testing

The new Nissan Tiida (Versa) was caught during testing in China and you can see some design elements of it, despite the camouflage. The new model, which has the Sunny logo on it, is going to be equipped with a 1.8L engine, but it's too early to know the spec for each market yet. Anyway, from what is visible, the new model will be miles better than the current one.

Rendering shows Subaru FT-86 and new Impreza STI

The rendering above, which has been published by a Japanese magazine, shows the upcoming Subaru FT-86 on the left and the new Impreza STI on the right. Although this is just a rendering and the design of both cars appears to be a little dramatic, it provides an indication of the possible future design language of Subaru could look like. I think Subaru has to do a lot of work in terms of design, in order its cars to have a clear identity.

Minor changes for Honda Legend in Japan

Honda did some minor tweaks to the Legend, including a newly developed six-speed automatic transmission, resulting in improved fuel economy and dynamic performance, as well as a type of silencer fitted around the wheels reducing the noise generated by the tyres.

The Legend is sold in Japan with prices starting from 6,200,000 ¥ and two additional packages are available called Advance and Euro.

Six new scale models arrived straight from Japan!

Just a photo of the latest arrival (earlier post)!!!

Some more Nissan scale models ordered

Updated on Nov 02 

The "Nissan Fairlady Z 240ZG (HS30)" model was replaced by a Fairlady Z Z432R (PS30SB) model

Life continues and so are my orders for new scale models! This time I focused on Nissan Fairlady models, along with a couple of Skylines and a Pulsar GTI-R model. The latter one will be available next year, but I was lucky enough to be able to place a pre-order.

• Nissan Fairlady Z Z432R (PS30SB) – Orange by Kyosho
• Nissan Fairlady Z 300ZR (HZ31) – Crystal White by Kyosho
• Nissan Fairlady 300ZX Twin Turbo (Z32) 1992 Kanagawa Police by Hikoseven
• Nissan Fairlady Z (Z33) NISMO version 2007 – White by Ebbro
• Nissan Skyline Turbo C Fuji 1000km 1983 No.11 by Tomytec
• Nissan Skyline (HR31) No.23 1987 Inter Tec by Kyosho 
• Nissan Pulsar GTI-R 1991 Test version by Lumyno

Nissan Leaf production starts in Japan

Nissan has started production at its Oppama facility for the Nissan Leaf, which is planned to go on sale in December in Japan and the United States, and from early 2011, in select markets in Europe. In November, the company will begin exports to the United States, followed by shipments to Europe in December.

RX-8 successor more than two years away

The RX-8 successor (earlier post) is at least one year behind schedule, due to failure in meeting the emission requirements. Mitsuo Hitomi, general manager of Mazda's powertrain division, insists that "we will never give up" and the 16X Wankel engine under development is already 30% more fuel efficient that the Renesis engine. Hitomi stated that the 1.6L 16X engine is slightly more fuel efficient than Mazda's 2.0L petrol engine.

So, when the new RX will hit the market? "Maybe within two years we can tell you when we will introduce it to the market," according to Hitomi. 

Source: Automotive News

Honda HSV-010 takes 2010 Super GT title

The HSV-010 won the 2010 Super GT championship in GT500 class following a second place of the Dome team in the Motegi race. Well done Honda!!!

Nissan Juke on the streets...

On Saturday night, I got the chance to see the Nissan Juke for the very first time and actually, I saw four of them parked next to each other (I took those shots with my mobile phone and thus the low quality). There should have been an event somewhere, cause they  were demo cars.

When the first official photos were released back in February, I was rather shocked. Some kind of typing mistake should have been made. The name should be Joke and not Juke... However, seeing the car out in the real world left me with mixed feelings. The first thing I noticed was the fact that in the reality, it's smaller than what I expected. The front end is definitely weird and people will need a bit of time in order to get used to it, while the rear end (where some Volvo design elements are evident) looks better and it matches the overall design of the car. In general, I believe that it is not a nice car to look at, there is no doubt about that, but at the same time it's just different from what we have been used to. Since each car was in different colour (silver, red, black and white), I found silver and white to suit best the car's design.

What really surprises me with Nissan is the fact that it's the first Japanese manufacturer to follow the trend of turbocharged engines with the DiG-T engine. Japanese automakers still try to avoid using turbocharging and one good example is Mazda with its new SKYACTIV technology (earlier post). I believe that there is a good reason behind this, as we are talking about mass produced cars, and it is a good practice to keep the design with as few parts as possible. Avoiding complexity is a basic principle if you want a reliable product.

Considering that prices start from €17k, it should sell well and Suzuki's SX4 is now in big trouble...

Subaru Forester tS STI... for Japan only

Subaru will produce an STI version of the Forester tS. Fancy one? Well, only 300 cars will be built and before you run to your local Subaru dealer, bare in mind that you have to live in Japan in order to get one...

Production is scheduled to run from now until the end of March 2011 and all cars will be fitted with a 5-speed automatic transmission. The 2.5L engine will produce 263 ps and 347 Nm of torque. STI tuned dampers, springs, body bracing will be fitted.

The STi version costs 3,600,000 ¥.