2005 Nissan Titan Se Crew Cab Pickup 4-door 5.6l on 2040-cars

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Alpine unveils N36 LMP2 car that will race in 24 Hours of Le Mans

This is the Alpine LMP2 competitor you'll see contesting European endurance races this year, including The 24 Hours of Le Mans in June. Parent company Renault showed off the N36 racer at its atelier in Paris, the blue and orange a switch from the yellow, black and white livery Alpine wore last time it was seen in Le Mans way back in 1978 when it won the race.
The team will be run by Signatech-Nissan and the chassis will be powered by a Nissan engine. Nelson Panciatici and Pierre Ragues will contest World Endurance Championship rounds throughout the year, they'll be joined by endurance and IndyCar veteran Tristan Gommendy for Le Mans and Paul-Loup Chatin as the team's reserve driver.
The Alpine N36 will get into its first test this week at Paul Ricard, then experience its first racing miles at the European Le Mans Series round at Silverstone on April 13. The press release below has the full scoop, the photos above have the past and present in high-res glory.

Updated Nissan Micra gets fresh look, more tech and 'New' name

A few months ago, Nissan gave the Micra (which is not for US consumption) a substantial styling update that included new front and rear fascias, and stuffed more technology into the interior, such as USB ports and auxiliary inputs for audio and a new media touchscreen. Though it's still based on the same fourth-generation architecture, Nissan now calls it the New Micra.
Overall the New Micra - also known as March in some markets - looks similar to but more taut than the vehicle that launched in late 2010, thanks to more angular headlights, a new bumper, a sculpted hood and a revised grille with the Nissan logo sitting inside a chrome V, which establishes a stronger link to Nissan's "corporate look." The rear end receives less-drastic changes, such as a new bumper, LED taillamps and a new infill panel at the bottom of the tailgate.
For all of the details on Nissan's five-door city car, take a look at the press release below, and be sure to check out our live gallery from Frankfurt.

Pickup sales may hit 2M units for first time since 2007

Even as fuel prices creep back up, trucks are still a hot item among new-vehicle shoppers. To see how popular pickup trucks still are, you don't have to look any further than how much effort automakers put into the continual one-upmanship of their trucks. Backing this fact up, USA Today is reporting that the segment could top two million sales this year - a total not matched since 2007, though still far from the pre-recession, three-million-unit levels.
Through August, the Ford F-Series continues to be the segment leader with almost 500,000 units sold, but the Chevy Silverado (328,269), Ram 1500 (234,642), GMC Sierra (122,232) and Toyota Tacoma (110,293) are all seeing at least 20-percent sales increases, helping to account for around 1.44 million truck sales so far this year - not including possible outliers like the Suzuki Equator and Chevy Avalanche.
This year alone, General Motors has completely redesigned its fullsize trucks, Ram and Toyota have significantly updated their offerings, the next-gen Ford F-150 will be out next year and Nissan is promising an all-new Titan around the same time with an eventual Cummins diesel under the hood. It would seem, then, that truck sales are poised to continue their upward trend.