Last week, Petrol-Head reported some spyshots and an official teaser of the new-generation Nissan Teana. This week, leaked sales brochures are on the menu.
Due to be unveiled at the Beijing Motor Show, the big Nissan saloon will be more an evolution than a revolution of the current model.
Nissan has unveiled the new Livina C-Gear which will reinforce the carmaker’s lineup in China, its third largest market.
In addition to the new Teana saloon, Nissan will unveil the Livina C-Gear at the Beijing Motor Show. As predicted the new model is based on the Livina. A five-seater is sportier than the normal Livina and comes with large plastic wheelarches and a new front bumper. On the inside, the C-Gear features a black interior with silver panels. the boot has a capacity up to 383 litres.
The Livina C-Gear is powered by a 100bhp 1.6-litre petrol engine which can be hooked up to a five-speed manual gearbox or a six-speed automatic gearbox.
Produced locally at Huadu plant in Guangdong province, the Livina C-gear will be also sold in South-East Asia under the X-Gear name. In addition to the normal Livina and Livina C-Gear, Nissan will introduce a third variant later in Indonesia.
Leaked pictures and details about the 7-seater Qashqai have emerged on the Internet
Dubbed Qashqai+2, the new derived model will be launched at the next London Motor Show in July. In order to fit two seats in the luggage compartment, Nissan designers have lengthened the roofline and redesigned the rear profile of the crossover model. The rear doors have also been redesigned and features a square window.
At 4,526 mm long, the Qashqai+2 is 211 mm longer than the normal Qashqai while the wheelbase has been lengthened by 135 mm. At 1,643 mm the Qashqai+2 is 38 mm higher increasing the headroom for rear passengers by 16 mm for the second row of seats and 10 mm for the third seat row. Nissan claims that third row of foldable seats can fit children or adults up to 5.2 ft tall. When the third seat row is folded away, the boot reaches a 500-litre capacity. As a result of these changes, the Qashqai is 22 lbs heavier than the five-seater model.
The Qashqai+2 will ba available with petrol and diesel engines. The entry level will be powred by a 115bhp 1.6-litre unit followed by a 140bhp 2.0-litre engine. The diesel engines will be the 106bhp 1.5-litre unit and the new 150bhp 2.0-litre both outsourced from Renault. While the two smaller engines will be only available with front-wheel drive, the 2.0-litre diesel and petrol models will also come with a four-wheel drive transmission.
After being surprised in the streets of Beijing, Nissan has released a teaser of the saloon the carmaker will unveil at the Beijing Motor Show.
The teaser doesn’t reveal much, but at least the headlights are now a bit less mysterious. However commenting on it will be a difficult exercise, but it confirms that Nissan will debut a new executive saloon at Beijing.
In a previous post, Petrol-Head reported the known details about the future model that Nissan will sell as a flagship on the Chinese market.
Nissan has sold the millionth Tiida in March of this year less than four years after its launch.
Often considered as the Japanese Megane, the Tiida is a compact car you won’t notice in the streets but still achieves top sales numbers despite lack of media spotlights. The one million milestone has been reached after launching the compact model in key markets such as the US or China. The Tiida is also sold in Europe since last year.
The compact car was facelifted in Japan in January of this year.The Tiida is available with three petrol engines, a 1.5-litre petrol engine, followed by 1.6-litre unit and a 1.8-litre engine. There is also a 1.5-litre diesel engine. The engines can be hooked up to a four-speed automatic, CVT or a six-speed manual gearbox.
A Nissan saloon which might be the future Teana has been spotted in the streets of Beijing.
The saloon has been spotted near the place where the Beijing Motor Show will be, suggesting that Nissan will unveil the Teana at the event. Partly covered, the saloon reveals the aft which is similar to that of the Intima concept car. The interior, still secret, will focus attention as the concept-car featured an appealing combination of leather, wood panels and ambient lighting.
Technical details remain scarce although it is believed that the next-generation Teana will replace the FF-L platform by the D platform seen on the new Maxima at New York Auto Show. Engine range will also be modernised by replacing the current 170bhp 2.3-litre and 231bhp 3.5-litre petrol units by engines from the HR family. The entry-level will likely be powered by the 225bhp 2.5-litre petrol unit and the topping engine will be the 315bhp 3.5-litre V6 unit. The two engines will enable the Teana to compete with the new Toyota Crown on the Japanese and Chinese markets.
Launching the Teana at the Beijing Motor Show will be Nissan’s serious attempt to reinforce its offer on the upper market segment in China. Indeed, the current model recorded poor sales as a result of increased competition.. Last year, 37, 803 Teana have been delivered compared to 45,629 vehicles in 2006. The next-generation Teana will also help Nissan to achieve its sales target for this year: deliver 500,000 cars.
Source: Autoblog China
This isn’t official, but PistonHeads has revealed the GT-R specs for the British market.
The Nissan GT-R will be available with three trim levels: basic, premium and black edition. The entry level will start at £52,900 and will be available in five colours, Pikes Peak White, Vibrant Red, Titanium Grey, Gun metallic, Super Silver. The car will come with leather interior, the computer system, but no navigation system. For a £1,300 extra, the premium will add BOSE DAB 11 speaker sound system, rain sensing windscreen wipers, auto-dim rear view mirror and auto headlamps.
The black edition will be, of course, will feature a unique black colour, called kuro black. It will get smoke grey wheel finish and exclusive black and red leather interior leather trim. The topping version will cost £55,500.
During a visit at a Nissan factory in Malaysia, Carlos Ghosn said he was optimistic about Nissan sales in emerging markets despite tougher times in Europe, Japan and in the US.
The Renault-Nissan boss said he is “very bullish in the emerging markets” and sees “strong growth in Russia, India, China, the Middle East and Brazil.” He expects the situation to remain unchanged for this year and said “The emerging markets grew 20 percent” since the beginning of the year.
Nissan is also confident about the ASEAN market which groups 10 Southeast Asian countries. Despite a recent slowdown, the company is a small player there with a 5% market share.
Nissan will end its financial year at the end of this month and Ghosn said that to date, Nissan had sold 3.7 million vehicles. The Renault-Nissan CEO remained cautious over this year outlook as recession in the US kips a lid on demand there.
Nissan has released teasers of the next-generation Maxima that the carmaker will unveil this week at the New York Auto Show.
Details remain scarce on the new model and the 4DSC moniker won’t give a clue. It might mean 4-Door Sports Car or anything else. The Four Door Sports Car logo refers to the third-generation Maxima, which bore a similar sticker and prided itself on its sporty performance.
What’s interesting about the next Maxima is the direction taken by the company to differentiate the new saloon from its less expensive sister, the Altima. Despite a lower price the 3.5-litre powered Altima is more powerful by 15bhp than the 3.5-litre Maxima. It is time to the Maxima to re-establish the order and the car might feature the VQ37VHR seen on the Infiniti.
Here is a rendering of the next-generation Z which will be called 370Z in Europe.
The Japanese car magazine Best Car has published a rendering of the expected 370Z in its latest issue. Codenamed C53D, the next-generation Z is expected to feature the 3.7-litre engine seen in the Infiniti G37 which as a power output of 330bhp. Under the Z bonnet, it will likely deliver more than 330bhp. Between the 330bhp of the Infiniti G37 and the 473bhp of the GT-R, there would be room for a 390-400bhp powered Z coupé. It would definitely help the carmaker to haunt the Porsche Cayman.
In December of 2006, Nissan product planning VP Larry Dominique said the next-generation Z would "have considerably more performance than the current model and give a visual stimulus beyond today’s Z." The car is expected to be launched at the next Paris Motor Show. However, Los Angeles Auto Show might also be preferred.
