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Nissan could have bought a stake in Aston Martin as early as 2012

Aston Martin has a very interesting future ahead of it. While the British brand appeared to be struggling with aging tech for a while, fresh investment from Daimler may have shown a light toward the future with the brand getting engines and electronics from them. Also, former Renault-Nissan top exec Andy Palmer has jumped ship from the French/Japanese automaker to become CEO of the much smaller sports car company. Interestingly, though, new reports from unnamed Nissan sources have indicated that Palmer has been pushing to work with AM for years.
Three unnamed company insiders told Reuters that Palmer made attempts to convince Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn in 2012 and 2013 to invest in Aston Martin, but his proposals were shot down both times for unspecified reasons, according to Automotive News. "We looked carefully at the proposal but we passed on it," said one of the sources.
You can easily see why Palmer was eying Aston Martin even back in 2012. It's no secret that the British sports car mavens were in need of extra funding, well before the Daimler investment. Building vehicles these days is only getting more expensive with stronger safety and emissions requirements. Just look at the brand's desperate hope to get a side-impact crash exemption to keep selling its models in the US as an example.

Nissan reveals the face of the new Qashqai

Last week Nissan revealed the first teaser image previewing its upcoming new Qashqai. That one was wearing a big sheet and showed us little other than its basic shape and a few highlighted details, but now the Japanese automaker has released the first undisguised-ish image of the new European-market crossover.
From the image above we can tell the new Qashqai will carry the familiar face of Nissan's latest crossovers well, with the U-shaped grille and angular LED accents in the headlamp clusters. The sharp creases in the hood also make it stand out as quintessentially Japanese, particularly in a crossover market where they can all start to look the same.
We'll have to wait just a few more days to see the full thing, with the reveal set for November 7, but Nissan also released a tidy infographic showing just how successful the outgoing Qashqai has been for it in the European market. Check it out below.

Nismo GT-R poised to be fastest Nissan ever

For almost every year since the Nissan GT-R first debuted, Nissan has been figuring out how to cram more power under the hood or give it 911-like quickness around the Nürburgring. Looking to create a brand image for its performance arm, we already knew that a hotter, Nismo-branded GT-R was in the works, but it seems some details may have leaked regarding this new Nismo GT-R.
While little has been spoken of this Super GT-R since February, Top Gear is reporting that Nismo is planning to make improvements to the coupe's power, handing and styling - three things that we're sure few have complained about since 2009. What could this mean for the GT-R? According to the article, Nismo could be looking to raise horsepower from the current 545-hp mark to more than 570 hp, and handling upgrades could give the car a 'Ring lap time of seven minutes and 22 seconds, which as Top Gear points out, is four seconds quicker than the new 911 GT3.