2008 Nissan Sentra Se-r Spec V Sedan 4-door 2.5l on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Infiniti ESQ is a Chinese Nissan Juke Nismo

Take a Nissan Juke Nismo, replace all of its suede and Alcantara interior with leather and cross-stitching, replace all of its badging with the words "Infiniti ESQ," and boom! You've got a made-for-China crossover aimed at "the new millennials." Infiniti teased the coming of the ESQ last month, and today, we're treated to pictures taking it in from various toothsome angles.
Whippersnappers with anywhere from 200,000 yuan ($33,507 USD) to 300,000 yuan to spend will get the same 197 horsepower, 1.6-liter turbocharged four-cylinder, sport-tuned CVT and all-wheel drive that we know in the Juke Nismo. We haven't tracked down any other official information about it yet, but potential buyers will get their first look at it during the Chengdu Motor Show that opens later this month, where it will share market-specific notes with Infiniti Q50 L.

Infiniti installs Taisuke Nakamura as new design chief

The cubicles and corner offices at Infiniti HQ in Japan continue to change hands. Infiniti Global Design Chief Karim Habib, only in that position for about two years since leaving BMW in 2017, has left the Japanese luxury brand "to pursue other opportunities." In his place, Nissan has elevated Taisuke Nakamura, a 26-year company veteran who is currently Nissan's program design director responsible for global design strategy, and concept car and production vehicle design. Nakamura has a stout design resume in service to both Nissan and Infiniti, having worked on the Qs Inspiration sedan concept (above) shown at the Shanghai Motor Show in April, the QX Inspiration crossover concept shown at the Detroit Auto Show this year (below), and the Prototype 10 speedster concept revealed at Pebble Beach last year (bottom). All of those were electric concepts, making Nakamura the point man for Infiniti's push into electric vehicles and hybrids, and the carmaker's introduction of a new design language. Last year, Infiniti said it would have a new EV on the market in 2021, as well as "e-Power" series hybrids with small battery packs charged by gas-powered generators.   Those EVs should fully embody the brand's new design DNA, seen initially in the recent concepts. The automaker said around the Qs reveal that the new "aesthetics are underpinned by Infiniti's desire to challenge convention and design cars which are engaging, enriching, enabling and enchanting – what the company calls its ‘4ENÂ’ approach to design." At the QX reveal in January, Habib said that as engineers made a "shift towards smarter, more compact and less intrusive powertrains, we were able to create an alternative form with flowing gestures, more engaging in character and more enriching in experience. With its long cabin, balanced proportions and muscular stance, the concept heralds in a new era for Infiniti models.” Infiniti said Nakamura takes up his post next week, Sept. 1, and will report to the same boss he has now, Alfonso Albaisa, Nissan's global design head. Aside from Habib, other top non-Japanese Nissan executives such as Daniele Schillaci, Jose Munoz and Trevor Mann have left the Japanese automaker in the recent past, since the arrest of Carlos Ghosn. The former chairman, who faces charges of fraud and misconduct, is awaiting trial in Japan over charges including enriching himself at a cost of $5 million to Nissan, Japan's No. 2 automaker.

Meet Sparky, Nissan's Leaf-based, Frontier-bedded EV parts hauler [w/video]

For many enthusiasts, the concept of the ute - a car with a pickup bed - is somehow irresistibly appealing. On paper, it promises the marriage of a truck's utility and a car's superior driving dynamics, and for that reason alone, we'd love to see more of them. Yet while other parts of the world get them in good numbers, North America doesn't ever see them - at least not for long. Based on what we've seen of late, though, that's not due to a lack of motivation on the part of engineers.
BMW wowed us several years ago with an M3 ute, and earlier this year, some interns converted a Mini Paceman into the pickup-bodied Paceman Adventure. Loathe to let their rivals in Munich and Oxford have all the fun, Nissan has built its very own car-based pickup. Meet Sparky, the world's first Leaf Frontier.
Like the M3, this all-electric ute is used as a parts hauler for Nissan's engineering teams at its sprawling Stanfield, AZ tech center and proving grounds.