2014 Nissan Gtr-- Pearl Blue/black on 2040-cars

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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.

Driving the Lincoln Aviator and flogging Abarths at Laguna Seca | Autoblog Podcast #593

In this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by West Coast Editor James Riswick and Associate Editor Joel Stocksdale. To begin, Greg takes a moment to remember the fastest woman on four wheels and former host of Autoblog's "The List," Jessi Combs, who died this week. Then our editors turn their attention to the cars they've been driving, including the Lincoln Aviator, Ford Ranger and Nissan Frontier, as well as Joel's recent stint in the Fiat 500 Abarth and Fiat 124 Spider Abarth, including track time at Laguna Seca. Finally, they turn their attention to a listener in Germany who is looking to replace an aging Volkswagen Eos with a newer convertible in this week's "Spend My Money" segment. Autoblog Podcast #593 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown Remembering Jessi Combs 2020 Lincoln Aviator and Aviator Grand Touring 2019 Ford Ranger 2019 Nissan Frontier 2019 Fiat 500 Abarth and 124 Spider Abarth at Laguna Seca Spend My Money Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on iTunes Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.  

Nissan Patrol attempts Guinness record with 170-ton cargo plane tow

Yesterday, Nissan teased us with a video showing a Patrol pulling up to a 170-ton cargo plane at an airport in the Middle East - we could only assume that the not-for-America sports utility vehicle would attempt to tow the jet.
Well, somebody leaked the official Nissan video, which indeed shows the Patrol successfully pulling the plane 30 meters for what reportedly is a Guinness world record. While Guinness hasn't confirmed the record on its website at time of writing, the 170-ton jet would be the heaviest plane ever towed by a production automobile. The video was taken down quickly, but another video shot by an observer at the event was posted for our enjoyment. We figured Nissan would move to repost the official video sooner rather than later, and it did.
The Patrol seems to have no problem towing 340,000 pounds, but let's just say it wasn't a quick ordeal. Check out the official and unofficial video of the tow below, as well as Nissan's teaser video. In a reversal of fortunes, we also threw in another, somewhat smaller but perhaps just as impressive vid, just for fun.