2006 Nissan 350z Grand Touring Vortech Supercharged 6-speed on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Nissan's Ghosn called out by Deltawing's Panoz in print ad

When the Nissan ZEOD RC limped to the side of the Circuit de la Sarthe a mere five laps into this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans, we imagine that a certain American motorsports figure at least smirked a little. Don Panoz's ongoing feud with Nissan probably means he wasn't sorry to see the arrow-shaped racecar's poor showing, and now he's stepping up his campaign against his former racing partner.
For those who need a refresher, back in 2012, Panoz and Nissan teamed up to field the DeltaWing, an innovative, wedge-shaped racer, as the first entry in the 24 Hours of Le Mans' experimental Garage 56 concept. The car rapidly became a fan favorite. The Panoz/Nissan alliance didn't last, though, and before long, the DeltaWing's designer was getting a paycheck from Nissan and the ZEOD RC racer arrived. Shortly after that, Panoz began mulling over a lawsuit alleging intellectual property infringement. The American motorsports icon would eventually pull the trigger on a suit back in December of 2013.
Panoz's latest move in the ongoing feud involves an open letter in both The Nashville Tennessean, the paper that serves Nissan's US headquarters, and trade paper Automotive News. The letter calls out Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn directly, and points out some of the similarities between the DeltaWing and the ZEOD RC, going so far as to quote the original car's designer, Ben Bowlby.

Infiniti confirms new "premium compact" to be built in UK

Aside from certain naming-related news, Infiniti has actually had some decent product news to announce this week. The company's president, Johan de Nysschen, alluded to a new 550-horsepower performance sedan, and now the automaker has confirmed that a new "premium compact" will go into production in 2015. Based on the fact that this new model will be built alongside the Nissan Leaf at the automaker's Sunderland, UK assembly plant, we could only hope that it's a production version of the LE Concept (shown above).
Sunderland already produces Nissan products like the Qashqai, Juke and Note, and as a part of an investment of 250 million British pounds (around $406 million USD) for the new model, the plant would add an extra 280 jobs with the capacity to build 60,000 of the new Infinitis annually. Adding the premium compact at Sunderland means that Infiniti will have to change its plans for another new model, a bigger "C-segment hatchback," which could very well be a production version of the Etherea Concept.

2014 Nissan Versa Note priced from $13,990*

With the 2014 Nissan Versa Note going on sale this month, Nissan has announced the official pricing for its redesigned subcompact hatchback. Commanding a $2,000 premium over the Versa sedan, the new Versa Note will have a starting price of $13,990 (*not including $790 for destination), which is $680 less than the 2012 Versa Hatchback.
The base model is the Versa Note S, but trim levels also include S Plus and SV starting at $15,240 and $15,990, respectively. The S Plus trim will deliver the highest fuel economy - best in class according to Nissan - for the Versa Note thanks to a CVT and active grille shutters, and the SV brings more convenience features like power windows and door locks (that's right, the base models will still get crank windows and manual door locks). Stepping up even further, the SL Package will add push-button starter, backup camera and heated seats for $17,690 while the SL Tech Package tops out at $18,490 with navigation, Nissan's Around View Monitor and Bluetooth. More pricing details for the 2014 Versa Note are posted below in the official press release.