Our own Michael Karesh will be testing out Nissan’s new Altima this week. This is the car that Nissan is hoping will take the Altima from its current second place slot in the mid-size segment and up to the top of the pile. In lieu of Michael’s take, there are a few factors that are worth looking at.
With a planned Chinese joint-venture between Chery and Subaru now really, honestly dead in the water, Subaru will look to the United States for sales growth, while importing cars to China for the next few years.
Chinese customers will be able to help themselves to not one but two long-wheelbase Infiniti M sedans., just in case up-and-coming plutocrats don’t want an Audi A6L.
Scion will be killing off their xB hatchback (beloved by at least one commenter) and the xD hatchback (which nobody really liked).
If the Ferrari FF is just a little too common for you, a Minnesota man has what must be the only one of its kind in the United States – a 1987 Honda Accord Aerodeck, practically new with just 29,750 miles on the clock.
Mazda is saying “peace out” to their V6 engines. The party line is that they don’t really fit with the companies new philosophy, and the SkyACTIV portfolio. Instead, the company is drumming up a few alternatives.
Kizashi apparently means “omen”, sign or “warning” – it also means “something great is coming”, but the only thing on Suzuki’s American horizons is a bleak future.
The scuttlebutt on Mazda is that Japan’s favorite independent automaker is in the toilet, having to shed jobs in America and assets in Japan just to stay afloat. While Mazda may be strapped for cash, their less-than-liquid holdings, like a baseball team and $5 billion worth of land, don’t look so bad.
Nissan’s upscale Infiniti cars can only be bought outside of Japan, but most of the cars are made in Japan. That will change, said Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn in New York. (Read More…)
Finally, we can dispense with the dumb teasers and show you the face of the 2013 Nissan Altima. Bad news – a CVT is standard across the board.
Murilee’s piece on the Acura Vigor brought back some fond memories for me involving that car, and an utterly bizarre bit of automotive trivia that was thought to be lost forever – a Japanese-market commercial for the Honda Vigor that features sexual deviancy (panty sniffing, anyone), Italian art house cinematography and the requisite badly-garbled English slogans.
Subaru will revise their 2013 Legacy with an all-new 2.5L FB boxer engine. The 2.5GT model, with its turbocharged 2.5L engine, will die a quiet death as Subaru axes their antiquated SOHC flat-four range.
Its squat boxer architecture meant a low centre of gravity, and by building in a low rate of roll and very little offset or castor in the MacPherson strut front suspension, the handling was truly revelatory, refreshingly neutral with precise steering…endlessly chuckable. [They]…were willing rather than fast, and there was more grip than the boxer engine…could ever hope to exploit…away from straight roads it still took a genuinely quick car to catch one.
Does this sound like a review of the 2012 Subaru Impreza? You may be surprised to read that the words here describe a car from a completely different country, with a culture and ethos that couldn’t be more different – but a car that may be the spiritual predecessor to the Impreza.
Toyota released a teaser of a new sedan with an “…elegant yet athletic look.” The sedan is apparently a production ready car and not a concept and if it really is the new Avalon (what else can it be) it looks like that the stodgy old retiree-mobile is getting some youthful new duds. Sort of like seeing your Grandpa wear Air Jordans because he bought them for $29.99 at Marshall’s. Except this time, it seems to be intentional.
The new Lexus corporate face will be appearing on the newest Lexus ES – a startling trend for a vehicle so conservative it makes Mitt Romney look like a chaps-wearing “lifestyle” devotee.
Recent Comments