To everyone’s surprise, Nissan has not released a press release documenting the technology or features of the Invitation Concept. Instead, the release looks into the financial aspects to its production in Sunderland.

The plant is part of the £125 million investment in the UK. It will carry out cylinder head casting, camshaft machining, engine assembly and axle production. The projected sales in the first year is 100,000 units. The arrival of the model gives rise to 2,000 new jobs at the facility and in the vendor circuit.

The Japanese automotive giants have said there has been optimization program conducted on the 1.6 litre petrol and the 1.5 litre dCi engines that included revised gear ratios for the models that had manual transmission.

What they have arrived at is the 1.6 litre petrol engine now returns 47.1 mpg UK (6.0 lt/100km) on the combined cycle which results in an advancement of 2.3mpg while still emitting ~140g/km of Carbon dioxide and a reduction of 8g/km over the previous version of the same car. This result leaves the Nissan Juke in ‘VED Band E’ giving the buyer a £15 reduction in tax.

People who are in favor of the revised 1.5 dCi diesel will enjoy the benefits of the fuel economy jump – 55.4mpg UK to 57.6 mpg UK (4.9 lt/100km) on the combined process and the drop in emission to 129g/km from 134g/km. The 2012 Juke Diesel sits in the VED Band D and now costs a yearly tax of only £95.

The price remains unchanged since launching the model around a year ago and is not expected to rise even after the optimization process. That’s going to give the new buyers something to smile about. Nissan has sold over 22,000 units in this time and it’s about time the Juke got an upgrade and Nissan seems to be on task!

Nissan and Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) are providing range-anxious and stranded Leaf drivers, as described above, an “Option”. They have launched a mobile charging unit that helps juice up the dead batteries.

It will not just recharge dead batteries but is also equipped to assist other EV problems. Certain facts are still not clear, as in, how much time the batteries will need to charge up. The Nissan Leaf takes approximately 7 hours at 220/240V to fully recharge the 24-kWh battery, which gives the vehicle a 100-mile range.

Nissan Leaf roadside charging in partnership with JAF

Using an 80-volt quick-charge station, it takes approximately 30 minutes to achieve 80 percent battery capacity. The mobile service will not provide you the full charge. Its job instead will be to provide enough juice for you to reach a charging station.

In Japan, Nissan offers an optional tow plan for Leaf owners, which covers up to $6,599 in tow fees.

Source – Cnet.com

By Gaurav Malik

Codenamed L12F, it will sit on Nissan’s less expensive B-Platform and will wear the Bluebird Sylphy name in Southeast Asia and Sentra name in North America. The next generation model is expected to sport the190 hp turbocharged direct-injected 1.6-liter engine found in the Nissan Juke.

Source – BurlappCars

Nissan’s Micra has seen a slew of body styles including a convertible and sedan. In the European market, the Micra (known in some places as the Nissan March) is considered a city car which doesn’t see a lot of activity in the back seat.

Nissan’s 3-door Micra is a great idea then. Launched as a 5-door model with 1.2 and 1.5 liter engines, the new Micra’s platform will see the birth of a sedan next year and a MPV in 2012.

Source – Calango Design

For all of those who thought electric vehicles were only meant for inter-city transport and grocery store runs, think again.

Nissan will send the Land Glider Concept into production by using the Leaf EV’s platform. The Nissan Leaf EV sports coupe will be available in the United States in the next three to five years according to reports.

The Nissan Land Glider concept has four wheels, but it leans into corners like a motorcycle. Two people sit one behind the other and the easy navigation allows you to cut through traffic in the comfort of an air-conditioned cabin.

Measuring nearly half the width of a family car, the Land Glider Concept has a maximum top speed of 62mph.

There are no details available at this point on how much of all that is going to cross over into the production model, but expect something much more conventional from Nissan. If the vehicle turns out to be as sporty as the rendering here, then I see a lot of buyers licking their lips!

Image Source – Auto In Car

Nissan Juke is the latest addition to Nissan’s crossover range in Europe. There is nothing subtle about the Nissan Juke, its stands out with its bold, futuristic design and a very purposeful stance.

The Juke has been highly anticipated in Europe and now Nissan has registered more than 15,000 bookings for the Juke across Europe. The Juke left Nissan shocked in Japan after it registered 5300 bookings within one week of its launch, while the company’s monthly targets were a measly 1300.

The Nissan Juke is not about the futuristic styling alone, it gets stylish yet practical interiors and is offered with a choice of 3 powerful and efficient engines. There are two 1.6 liter gasoline engines on offer, one a turbocharged direct injection engine producing 187 hp and 240 Nm of torque and a naturally aspirated engine producing 115 hp and 159 Nm of torque. Both these engines get dual fuel injection, that is two injectors per cylinder.

The 1.5 liter dCi diesel engine is on offer and this reliable motor produces 109 hp and 240 Nm of torque. All these engines would be offered with an optional all new 6-speed Xtronic CVT.

All wheel drive Nissan Jukes come with the ALL MODE 4×4i with a newly developed torque vectoring system that improves handling characteristics of the car by enhancing its agility and reducing understeer. The Juke is not much of an off-roader.

The Nissan Juke starts at 16,500 Euros for the base version and majority of the bookings have been for the base version only.

Source: Autoten

Spied while testing on Germany’s famed Nurburgring Nordschleiffe track, is this face lifted version of the Nissan  GT-R sportscar. There were two prototypes of the car being tested. One appeared to be the standard version, while the was the Spec-V version.

Both the cars on test possessed similar changes to their bodywork such as a new, reshaped upper grille and a new rear diffuser. As can be seen from the above image, there is a lot of camouflage hiding the other changes to the car such as flared bumper edges behind the rear wheels.

The face lifted Nissan GT-R could also come with a whole lot of other changes, such as changes to the mechanicals of the car, like the engine, transmission, suspension and steering. Nissan is expected to unveil the face lifted GT-R sometime later this year.

Source – Worldcarfans

The Nissan Tiida which was launched way back in 2004 is due for a replacement and this is what the next generation Tiida/Versa could look like.

The Nissan Tiida compact car is one of Nissan’s most important models and the Nissan Leaf Electric Vehicle has been derived out of the Tiida’s platform, the Nissan B-Platform. The Tiida also shares its platform with the hugely successful Nissan Juke which has started off with tremendous sale numbers in Japan.

The next generation Tiida could do with some sporty styling and hence the headlamps inspired by the Nissan 370Z. The 2011 Nissan Tiida could grow in size and could be getting new engines and CVT units.

Renault-Nissan’s deal with Daimler could result in more powerful 4-cylinder engines finding its way under the hoop of the 2011 Tiida/Versa. We cannot also rule out the possibility of a hot-hatch based on the Nissan Tiida.

Source: Autoincar

It has been only one week since the Nissan Juke’s launch in the Japanese market and already the Juke has sold much more than what the company’s monthly targets were.

Nissan hoped to sell only 1300 units of the Juke compact sports crossover this month, but now it has over 5,296 confirmed bookings for the Juke on the 7th day since its launch itself. The risk Nissan has taken with the Juke’s bold design has paid off well.

Nissan knew the Juke was a highly anticipated product but now it is flabbergasted by the huge response to the Juke. The main selling points of the Nissan Juke is its radically futuristic styling. The Juke is Nissan’s first compact sports crossover and this segment is it its natal stages in Japan.

The Juke 15RX comes with a new 1.5 liter HR15DE petrol engine which is the world’s first mass-produced dual injection engine, there are two nozzles for each cylinder. The engine produces about 114 PS of power and 159Nm of torque. The engine has Variable Valve Timing (CVTC) for both intake and exhaust improve performance and efficiency.

This engine is mated with an all new 6-speed Xtronic CVT. A 1.6 liter MR16DE petrol engine is also offered.

The Nissan Juke is available in 2WD and 4WD configurations. 4WD Jukes come with the ALL MODE 4×4i with a newly developed torque vectoring system. Though the Juke 4WD isn’t a very capable off-roader, this electronically controlled 4WD results in better handling on-road.

The Nissan Juke is loaded with safety features like ABS, EBD, High-strength body construction, 6 airbags, The Juke has an astonishing 95% recyclability rate. The Nissan Juke range starts at 1,690,500 yen and goes up to 1,790,250 yen with all the options.

Nissan would begin selling the Jukes in the UK an USA from October, 2010.

News source: Nikkei