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Nismo toying with crossovers and pickups

Nissan is apparently committed to turning its racing and tuning division into a bigger player, with new Nismo models coming out all the time. But while the Nismo division has until now focused primarily on hatchbacks and sports cars, the next project could be a truck. According to Aussie website CarAdvice in speaking to Nissan marketing chief Darren Cox and Nismo boss Shoichi Miyatani, the prospect of a Nismo-tuned SUV or pickup are definitely on the table. That could include a performance-oriented take on the Navara pickup, but also the Qashqai crossover – a prospect first mooted a year ago. And if the Qashqai and Navara are under consideration, there's no telling what Nismo might do with the likes of the Frontier, Rogue, Murano or even the Pathfinder. None of that is concrete at the moment, of course, but the market for performance crossovers seems only to be growing – and growing more accessible, too. The Germans keep making smaller crossovers and performance variants thereof, and even Fiat is said to be working on an Abarth version of the 500X. The Juke Nismo itself bridges the gap between hot hatches and performance crossovers, but apart from the 370Z Nismo and GT-R Nismo, most of the division's projects seem to be focusing on hatchbacks like the Pulsar and Versa Note.

Nissan New Micra being considered for Canadian market

A new story from AutoGuide is triggering new speculation that Nissan may be about to bring its New Micra to North America. According to a dealer-based source, Nissan is showing off the overseas hatchback at Canadian dealer meetings along with the redesigned 2014 Rogue. The report indicates that the car is expected to go on sale sometime mid next year. Autoblog has learned that, while the New Micra is indeed under study for the Canadian market, it is not being considered for US sales. Our well-placed source tells us that bringing the New Micra to US dealers "just wouldn't make sense."
Bringing the New Micra to US dealers "just wouldn't make sense."
Reading between the lines a bit, that's because Nissan already has a robust small car lineup spearheaded by the Versa sedan and new Versa Note hatchback, along with the compact Sentra. And while both Versa models are generously sized for the subcompact classes they compete in, their low entry price (the sedan starts under $12k) means that pricing the smaller Micra underneath it would be difficult. Given its historically significantly higher fuel prices (not to mention higher vehicle prices and a penchant for small cars), Canada seems like a much more hospitable market for the Micra.

Nissan leaning on JATCO to remedy CVT problems

Nissan's decision to fit continuously variable transmissions across even more of its new models may be coming back to bite the Japanese automaker, as it's been hampered by customer satisfaction issues relating to its XTronic CVTs, which are provided by a supplier called JATCO.
From what we're understanding, the issue largely relates to customers' unfamiliarity with the non-traditional shift nature of a CVT. Dealers have reported complaints and service visits from owners over the belt-driven automatics (did these people not test drive the cars before they bought them and notice that they don't shift conventionally?).
The company, which Nissan owns 75 percent of, has come under fire from none other than Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn, who's spoken about JATCO and its troubles rather openly. "Every time you launch a new CVT you always have some risks," Ghosn said in an interview with Automotive News. "So we now have a process by which, before we launch any new CVT, [JATCO] come before the Nissan executive committee to explain all the measures they have taken to make sure there are no surprises."