Filed under: Minivan/Van, Nissan, Alternative Fuel

Nissan Light Commercial Electric Vehicle sketch – Click above to enlarge
Nissan has electricity on the brain. The Japanese automaker is readying its opening salvo in the alternative propulsion wars in the form of its electric Leaf compact hatchback. Carlos Ghosn, though, announced at the Tokyo Motor Show that there would be plenty more to come, including an unnamed Infiniti model, something like the unique leaning Land GliderSource: Autoblog RSS Feed

Filed under: Motorsports, Toyota, Earnings/Financials

Toyota GT-One – Click above for high-res image gallery
As Toyota president Akio Toyoda announced the withdrawal of his company from the Formula One World Championship, he reiterated Toyota’s commitment to motorsport competition. But while this may have been pure lip-service, the Japanese automaker has a long history in racing, leading to speculation over where Toyota could land next. According to Toyoda:
MotorSource: Autoblog RSS Feed

Filed under: Motorsports, Coupe, Performance, Marketing/Advertising, Ford

The ’10 Unleashed “Mustang Rally” – Click above to watch the video after the jump
We don’t think of the Ford Mustang as a rally car. In fact, a Mustang doing anything but drag racing doesn’t represent its customer base very well, but that doesn’t mean we don’t like to see it compete in all kinds of motorsports. So who would turn a brand new 2010 Ford Mustang into a rally car? J.B. Niday would. He’s Source: Autoblog RSS Feed

Volkswagen’s New Beetle has made it onto a list of the ugliest cars of the past 50 years in what is not great timing for the company as it (finally!) prepares the successor to the New Beetle. The list was compiled by Business Week, and includes some classic ugly cars and a few surprises, too. Making the list was also the Jeep Compass, Toyota Prius and 2002 BMW 7-series.

The New Beetle update should appear in 2012 and might be anything from a sportier version, to aSource: EuroCarBlog RSS Feed

Filed under: Nissan, Asia, China, India

India’s Tata Nano has seemingly shown the world’s remaining automakers that it’s possible to build a small, inexpensive car for emerging markets that’s still profitable. You can reportedly count Nissan among the car makers that are paying attention and the Japanese automaker has plans to launch a new small car platform in Thailand, India and China starting in March of 2010.
The new platform is called V (as in Versatile), and it’sSource: AutoblogGreen RSS Feed

The Richmond Fed produced a report that provides some useful information on the issue of non-recourse mortgage loans and their default rates. The report includes a State-by-State breakdown of the rules for defaulting.

This report was over my head. For example, the following calculation describes the probability of a short sale in a Recourse State:

Complete Story

Source: Seeking Alpha RSS Feed

Filed under: Government/Legal, Earnings/Financials, Renault, Russia

It seemed like a good idea at the time, but with hindsight being 20-20, how many failed ventures can be summed up by that same excuse? Just last year, Russia was looking to foreign investors as one of the most promising emerging markets in the world. Renault got locked into a bidding war with Fiat and General Motors for a large stake in Autovaz, Russia’s largest automaker, known to consumers for producingSource: Autoblog RSS Feed

By Andrew Liszewski

If you’ve yet to make the move from analog cassette tapes to digital audio files, the Tape Express from ION Audio will make the transition a bit easier for you. First of all, the device looks like an old-school Walkman, and if you’re still listening to cassettes on a daily basis, there’s a good chance you’re a master of that technology. Converting your tapes to MP3s is as easy as connecting the device to your PC via USB and hitting play. The includedSource: OhGizmo! RSS Feed

Filed under: Coupe, Performance, Videos, Porsche

Click above to watch the video after the jump
The Joetwint Porsche 996 is scary fast. Twint scored a world record top speed of 231.4 mph in the Texas Mile, and at a recent run the Evolution Motorsports-tuned 911 managed to hit 224.711 mph, but it also had a bit of a spill. Hit the jump to watch video of the massively-boosted 996 take off like a rocket and reach speeds of over 200 mph in a matter seconds. The video would beSource: Autoblog RSS Feed

Review: 1970 Hotchkis E-Max Dodge Challenger causes smiles lasting longer than four hours

Jonny and Drew head out on an impromptu adventure in Hotckhis’ autocross prepped 1970 Challenger and discover that happiness is an aftermarket alternator away.

Introduction to Karting – Part 4

In our fourth installment of Introduction to Karting, we pick a set of wheels, get it up to spec and finally get ready to hit the track.

Lexus may offer decontented, track-focused LFASource: Autoblog RSS Feed