All Nissan Dealerships to Receive Diesel Training in Preparation for 2016 Titan

There's an item I hadn't thought of.

With the upcoming introduction of the 2016 Nissan Titan at the January 2015 Detroit Auto Show, many Nissan dealerships will find themselves in a position where their techs may never have worked on a diesel engine before, or at the very least, are unfamiliar with the Cummins diesel platform.

In order to assist their franchises in getting their staff up to date, Nissan is going to be taking technicians from each dealership offsite to do training specifically on the Cummins engine specifically and diesel engines in general.  Hopefully the platform is buttoned up enough that their coming skills are not of much use in the near future but it does stand as another example of just how committed Nissan has to be to this new product.  If the diesel Titan fails it will be a sunk cost of billions of dollars, one which would hamper Nissan from doing anything truly innovative in the near term.

Nissan sending its techs to diesel school...

June 11th...The Next Era In Nissan Trucks Arrives...

Nissan has begun hyping its pickup history of late and it has revealed that they will reveal the next generation Nissan Frontier on June 11th.  The video below every so briefly covers Nissan's 80 year pickup history and closes with the shot of the new vehicle under a sheet.  You can see the new LED headlights and the standard Nissan "V" grille.  Also seen are a roof rack system of some kind and an almost bowtie shaped shadow on the lower front grille that I am unsure of...

The big news is that it will be in showrooms (at least Australian showrooms, manufactured in Thailand I do believe) either at the very end of '14 or the very beginning of '15.  Hopefully that means it will be here in the States at the same time as well.  My poor '09 will no longer look like a "modern" Nissan truck...oh, well...maybe I can tow it around with a new Cummins Diesel Frontier!

2016 Nissan GT-R Rendering Leaked...

Looks like a Japanese magazine has leaked an early rendering of the 2016 Nissan GT-R which is reportedly to be the first major reworking of the supercar since its introduction a few years back.  Receiving a hybrid powerplant though still containing a twin turbo V6 the new GT-R will retain its sub 3 second 0-60 time and its off the line torque should be incredible given the now part time electric powertrain.

That said, if this a true depiction of the next GT-R, it has gotten REALLY ugly in my mind...looking a bit like an elongated Mitsubishi Eclipse, all its little wiggles and bumps are not appealing.  Here's hoping they flatten some of this out...

THIS Is Your New Nissan Maxima...

Revealed at this week's Detroit Auto Show the Nissan Sport Sedan "concept" is a concept in name only.  Well placed sources have revealed that the production version of this vehicle has already been revealed to dealers and is projected to go on sale in 2015 as a '16 model.  Much like Nissan did with the Juke, the production version is a slightly toned down version of the concept.  Things like the angular exhaust ports seen with the concept will be turned to more typical circular exits and some of the angles and bulges will be softened.  The carbon fiber accents will be gone, the 21" wheels will be reduced, and the all glass roof will become a large sunroof, etc., etc.

What won't change is the "V" shaped grille which is spreading across Nissan's lines, nor the floating roof or the boomerang lights or overall low profile.  The engine, which in the concept is Nissan's standard V6 making some 300 hp also will remain, as will the CVT and paddle shifters connected to a FWD layout.

The '16 Maxima will LOOK revolutionary but given the carryover of engine, FWD and CVT will be more evolutionary.  The LOOK of the 4-Door-Sportscar might be there but this still seems likely to come up short in comparison to similarly priced BMWs, Audis, etc.--though "technically" the Maxima is not in that luxury segment.  It will be a nice car for sure in terms of build quality and an increase in performance over your standard Altima/Camry/Accord...but it would needs to change more than its clothing in order to be a true sports sedan.

Nissan Sports Sedan Concept Given Green Light...

The Next Nissan Maxima....

Nissan Micra Coming to North America!! But Not The US...

To Canada in fact.

The little Micra sold all over the world will be coming to Canada in early '14 as a 2015 model.  It will be motivated by a 1.6L, 4 cyl. engine that is also found on the Versa Note.  Elsewhere in the world it is powered by a supercharged 3 cylinder engine and often known as the Nissan March.  The Canadian version will put out a whopping 107 HP vs. the "world" version at 97 HP.

The Versa Note goes for $13,500 in Canada and the Micra is intended to undercut that, targeting the urban dweller in need of cheap and gas frugal transportation.  Which is why it is NOT coming to the US.  The Versa here in the States is already one of the two (I think there is a Mitsubishi that is a tad cheaper) cheapest vehicles available and Americans evidently are not expected to embrace an even smaller vehicle.

The Micra has been popular in the world of Rally around the world and was driven by veteran Swedish rally driver Per Eklund to the 21st position in the 1988 RAC Rally and a 10th place finish at the Acropolis Rally Greece in 1989.  Head to Great Britain or Europe and you will see the Mirca/March rallied competitively all the time.  So maybe there's hope a Canadian driver might put this little mini-mobile to good use in the near future!

Heck, give this TFL video a perusal...they test the 3 cylinder engine version....but it should be fairly close to the Canadian version...and hey, look!! A stickshift!

Nissan's Answer To The BRZ--REVEALED!!

Just now at the Tokyo Auto Show!!  Yup, its RWD.  Yup its small (couple inches smaller than the BRZ).  Yup it looks a bit like the old Skylines.  Yup the NISMO version of the concept is AWESOME looking.

Further photos and video are below.

Early indications this is already fast tracked to production to be released as a '16 model.  SOOOO hope they make a NISMO version in the first batch.
I'll be in line from the moment they start taking orders...put some rear view mirrors up front on that thing...WOW...cannot wait...another year and a half is too long.

And OK, yeah, it LOOKS like a concept vehicle--a bit too angular and non-production looking aspects but please remember how the Juke was said to never be a production vehicle too and look where that ended up--design queues toned down a bit but the big aspects were kept.  I think you'll see the same here...

The concept's name is the Nissan IDx and the hopped version is the IDx NISMO

Anyone want a slightly used Rally Truck for sale in about mid 2015??

New 2015 Nissan Titan Spy Shot

Why we don't have more shots from this encounter??  I dunno...but at least they got one of the Cummins powered mule that is out testing in Arizona and Michigan currently.  While the photographer got a shot of the Cummins logo on the truck for the first time, the photos of the business end of the truck where the diesel has been shoehorned into somewhat modified sheetmetal are missing.  If there was any question that Nissan would try to market its new Titan around the Cummins powerplant, I think its gone now.

I would anticipate the production version to carry similar and multiple LARGE Cummins logos and tags as the Cummins name is far more marketable to American truck buyers than "Nissan" is at this point.  As I said before...expect these shots to come out more and more frequently as time goes on...

I Want One of These to Tow My Race Truck...

 Nissan ceased selling its UD1400 commercial truck a few years back and all that are left are fairly heavily abused used models with in excess of 200,000 miles on them.

Nissan is introducing a new Cabstar with two diesel engine choices in overseas markets however!  And boy do I want one.  Think loading this puppy up with my rally truck and not needing a trailer would be super cool.  Dreams...lovely dreams...

2014 Nissan Cabstar Spy Shots...

2015 Nissan Titan Diesel Mule Video from 10/15/13

Looks like the good folks over at Nissan are out testing their diesel again.  As the video points out it is being refueled at the diesel pump and its towing a nice trailer which looks set up to carry very specific weights to be added as they run the engine and vehicle through its paces under various loads.

It also looks to be a 2WD version as I don't think I can spot any 4WD hubs in the front.  The nice, deep, early season snows out West look to have imposed some unexpected cold weather testing on the mule as well.  The body looks similar to that of the static shots we've seen with a boxier shaped, bulkier front end.  With this being the only part of the vehicle that is camouflaged we can assume that there are a number of design aspects that Nissan wants to keep under wraps for now while the rest of the vehicle looks sourced from the current Titan.

These 2015 Nissan Titan spy shots and videos are sure to continue and grow in frequency as time moves towards its formal introduction and we'll try and keep up with them here...