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Nissan 360: Day One from Estoril, Portugal

Submitted: 01.05.08

Filed under: Sedans/Saloons, Sports/GTs, Commercial Trucks, Supercars, NissanClick the image above for more hi-res shots from the first day of Nissan 360 Nissan is holding its second ever Nissan 360 event in Cascais, Portugal as we speak. The two-day Nissan (and Infiniti) product extravaganza gathers every product produced by the company from around the world, and we're here to drive them all. We were in the Infiniti group yesterday, so we tooled around the Portuguese coast in rides like the FX50 and EX35, which we've already had a chance to drive on American soil. We also took the Speed -Racer-worthy GT-R for a spin or three around the Estoril race circuit, and got a ride with a pro driver at the wheel. The only Nissans we got our hands on were the Large Commercial Vehicles, a Clipper JDM van, and a two-generation-old, authentic Nissan Cedric taxi complete with fare receipt printer. But stay tuned, because we'll be right back with first drives of impossibly cute Nissan city cars like the Cube, Moco, and Micra, among others. In the mean time, feel free to check out the gallery of hi-res shots from our first day in preparation for more to come.Gallery: Nissan 360 - Day One Travel and lodging for this media event was paid for by the manufacturer. Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Isuzu not interested in GM's medium-duty truck operations

- posted: 29.09.08
http://www.autoblog.com/2008/09/24/isuzu-not-interested-in-gms-medium-duty-truck-operations/ Filed under: Trucks/Pickups, Commercial Trucks, GM, GMC, IsuzuIt must be pretty hard to unload an unwanted truck business these days. Just ask General Motors, which has attempted to sell its medium-duty truck operations first to Navistar and then Isuzu. Both heavy-duty diesel makers have passed on the offer. Isuzu had been rumored as a possible buyer for the unit after Navistar let the non-binding agreement pass by unsigned. Now, Isuzu President Susumu Hosoi tells Reuters, "There will be no such acquisition happening" from his company either, suggesting that the market for heavy-duty trucks has not yet hit the bottom.GM and Isuzu still have dealings together as the two companies jointly develop and build the Duramax engines that power the General's most powerful full-size trucks, SUVs and vans. This cooperation is expected to continue on as it has with neither Isuzu or GM buying out the other to gain full control of the operations.[Source: Reuters]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

International kills the CXT, MXT and RXT

- posted: 29.09.08
http://www.autoblog.com/2008/09/26/international-kills-the-cxt-mxt-and-rxt/ Filed under: Trucks/Pickups, Commercial Trucks, MilitaryAnother one bites the dust, and this time its International, that's decided to drop its line of non-commercial big rigs. Considering the tough times that automakers have been having moving traditional pickups off dealer lots and into driveways, you can imagine the problems that International must be having with its CXT, MXT and RXT consumer-grade semis. Current fuel prices alone may have been enough to bring the Internationals to a grinding halt, but the faltering economy, which has made luxury toy purchases much harder to justify, may have been the final nail in the XT's coffin. In any case, this isn't a death-blow to International, as the company didn't sell too many of these leviathans anyway, and their demise will allow the company to focus its attention back on the heavy-duty hauler segment that is its bread-and-butter, along with the military segment, which surely is more profitable than the others.[Source: Kicking Tires]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Nissan to take on domestics with commercial truck in 2010

- posted: 29.08.08
http://www.autoblog.com/2008/08/27/nissan-to-take-on-domestics-with-commercial-truck-in-2010/ Filed under: Detroit Auto Show, Japan, Plants/Manufacturing, Commercial Trucks, NissanSensing the ripe market opportunity, Nissan will start producing various light-commercial and medium-duty trucks in 2010. The targeted segment is currently dominated by Ford and GM, where the miscellaneous cabs and frames are used to produce such vehicles as dump trucks, tow trucks, and school buses. Now, Nissan wants a piece of the pie. Larry Dominique, Nissan's VP of product planning, wouldn't disclose details right now, but he did say that a handful of new products will be needed to satisfy the new commercial truck dealers - and Nissan is more than willing to oblige. Joe Castelli, the former director of Ford's commercial trucks (and now a VP of commercial trucks at Nissan), said the Japanese automaker will be pulling from their global stable of commercial components (branded Atlas and Atleon in other markets) to quickly adapt them for the U.S. market. Nissan's official commercial truck plans will be announced in January at the Detroit Auto Show, and we'll be there to judge reactions. [Source: Automotive News, subs. req'd]  Permalink | Email this | Comments

Ford slashing F-150 customization by 90 percent

- posted: 22.08.08
http://www.autoblog.com/2008/08/18/ford-slashing-f-150-customization-by-90-percent/ Filed under: Car Buying, Economy, Sedans/Saloons, Trucks/Pickups, Plants/Manufacturing, Commercial Trucks, Hatchbacks, Ford, LincolnClick on the pic above for our high-res 2009 Ford F-150 galleryAs staggering as it may seem, the 2008 Ford F-150 pickup can be ordered in billions of different combinations. That's all going to change for 2009. In an effort to reduce complexity and cut spiraling costs in the process, Ford will be slashing the number of possible F-150 configurations by 90 percent. The automaker isn't leaving the rest of the lineup alone either. The Ford Expedition goes from 250,000 combos down to fewer than 10,000. The 2009 Lincoln MKS debuts with about 300 combinations, and the 2010 Ford Focus will offer only about 150, which is 95 percent fewer than the current model. Are you in the market for a 2009 Ford F-150 and worried that you won't be able to get it exactly the way you want? Don't fret, Ford will still offer more than 9 million combinations for next year's model, including a brown one we presume. Gallery: 2009 Ford F-150[Source: Automotive News, subs. req'd]  Permalink | Email this | Comments

Navistar not going to buy GM's medium duty truck business

- posted: 22.08.08
http://www.autoblog.com/2008/08/20/navistar-i-not-i-going-to-buy-gms-medium-duty-truck-business/ Filed under: Trucks/Pickups, Etc., Commercial Trucks, Chevrolet, GM, GMCIt's an epic poem that could have been written by Byron: you suffered a nasty breakup and met a new girl, you dated for a while, things were looking outstanding, you proposed... and then the bottom dropped out of the medium-duty truck business. We've seen it all before. And now that it's happened, Navistar has backed away from it's non-binding commitment to purchase GM's medium-duty truck operations.GM and Navistar only had a memorandum of understanding, so there appears to be no harm, no foul in Navistar getting icy feet. The brief announcement of the dissolution presents it as a mutual affair: "Due to significant marketplace and economic changes, GM and Navistar have decided not to renew the memorandum of understanding to purchase GM's medium duty truck business," but we imagine GM standing at the altar, watching its Navistar groom bolt from the church and hop in a taxi.>GM is still talking to Navistar and looking at other ways to dump find a good home for its medium duty truck business. A shame, because they make some fine vehicles.[Source: GM] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

AM General to produce wheelchair-accessible transit vehicle

- posted: 15.08.08
http://www.autoblog.com/2008/08/14/am-general-to-produce-wheelchair-accessible-transit-vehicle/ Filed under: Commercial Trucks, HUMMER, Police/Emergency, Military While General Motors looks over a stack of offers for its HUMMER brand, the fate of AM General hangs in the balance. The military contractor developed and built the original Humvee until the rights to the HUMMER name were bought by GM, who then contracted AM General to continue building the H1 (until it was discontinued) and then the Chevy Tahoe-based H2. (The Chevy Colorado-based H3, meanwhile, is built entirely by GM at its Shreveport, Louisiana plant.) With the future of its General Motors contracts uncertain, AM General has announced a new deal of another kind. Starting in 2010, the Indiana-based company will begin producing a new series of wheelchair-accessible transit vehicles for the Vehicle Production Group, LLC. Although, as VPG points out, the usual development gestation period for such vehicles is two to three years, VPG and AM General intend to get the ramp-equipped para-transit vehicle to market in less than 24 months. Over 3,500 units have already been ordered, leading VPG to project that annual production will well exceed that number, while AM General intends to use the same workforce it currently employs for the new project. As for what the para-transit vehicle will look like, no one knows, but there was word of AM General developing a new version of the Standard Taxi (see above) with a low ride height and large doors that appears as if it could easily accommodate wheel chairs. [Source: Detroit News] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Titan Tire ships world's first 63-inch tire

- posted: 01.08.08
http://www.autoblog.com/2008/07/31/titan-tire-ships-worlds-first-63-inch-tire/ Filed under: Etc., Tech, Commercial TrucksRemember in the first Crocodile Dundee movie when he gets mugged in New York City and Sue says "He's got a knife," and Dundee says, "That's not a knife, this is a knife," and then he pulls out a beast-killing monstrosity of a blade? Well, that's what the folks at Titan Tire are saying right now about every other -- smaller -- tire in the world. Titan has made a 63-inch rubber behemoth for use on trucks in Canada's oil sands. The stats on these rubber donuts is impressive: the 59/80R63 is the biggest production tire in the world, standing over fourteen feet tall and weighing 12,500 pounds with a load rating of 101 metric tons. It makes Titan a very appropriate name for the company, as we learned from another movie, Remember the Titans, that in Greek mythology the Titans were greater even than the gods. Now we can only hope this development will make the price of oil drop another ten dollars...[Source: Titan via Gizmag] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Dacia launches Logan Pickup in Romania

- posted: 20.07.08
http://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/19/dacia-launches-logan-pickup-in-romania/ Filed under: Trucks/Pickups, Commercial Trucks, Renaultclick above to view more high-res images of the Dacia Logan PickupYou often hear us lament about the lack of a truly small, inexpensive truck for sale in the U.S. market except the aging Ford Ranger, and they don't come much tinier or cheaper than the new Renault/Dacia Logan Pickup, which will start at €7,250 ($10,689 USD) when it goes on sale in Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey this year before expanding into other markets, though not the U.S. The Logan line already includes a sedan, a wagon and even a van, and the new Pickup gives Dacia a vehicle that will likely appeal to both consumer and commercial tradesmen alike. It can carry 800kg (1,763 lbs.) in its bed, accommodate items up to 1.8 meters (5.9 feet) in length, and stow 300 liters (10.6 cubic feet) of stuff behind its seats. Engine choices include a 1.6L gas motor making 90 hp and 94 pound feet of torque at 3,000 rpm, as well as two versions of a 1.5L dCi diesel producing either 70 hp and 118 pound feet of torque or 85 hp and 148 pound feet of torque from 1,900 rpm. The cabin, of course, is spartan and looks as if it were hewn from a single giant piece of plastic, but it gets the job done with no frills. What say you, is there a market for the Logamino in the U.S., or did the return of the Subaru Brat in the form of the Legacy Baja quench our thirst for such vehicles? Don't think too hard about it as it's not going to happen, but we're having fun imagining the shenanigans we could have with this Romanian export. Gallery: Dacia Logan Pickup[Source: Dacia]Continue reading Dacia launches Logan Pickup in Romania Permalink | Email this | Comments

VanTastic: 2009 Ford E-Series upgrades

- posted: 20.07.08
http://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/26/vantastic-2009-e-series-upgrades/ Filed under: Etc., Commercial Trucks, FordJust as Ford's F150 has been the best-selling vehicle in the United States for decades, their E-Series (née Econoline) vans have also been sales champs since before the dawn of the 1980s. A strong presence in the trades delivers forty percent of the full-size van market to the E-Series. Ford's adding some new features and an upgraded interior to the E-Series for 2009 to help it continue to earn its keep. The full-sizers got an exterior nip and tuck last year, so the biggest body changes this year are rear doors that open wider. Ford's Work Solutions system is a natural addition, and it makes just as much sense in the work van as it does in a pickup. The biggest news is a revised instrument panel with -- bar the door -- four auxiliary switches. Actually, not having a mish-mash of toggles and rockers drilled through the dash face for aftermarket gear is a nice touch. The panel itself has an uncluttered, no-nonsense layout, though the vents look like they could chew off errant fingers. Also on the new dash is a navigation system, which should lessen the "I'm lost, so I'm going to lunch" calls from contractors. American cargo vans are unsung utilitarian heroes, and Ford doesn't want its class leadership to slip away. Press release after the jumpGallery: 2009 Ford E-Series[Source: Ford]Continue reading VanTastic: 2009 Ford E-Series upgrades Permalink | Email this | Comments

New York '08 Preview: Ford Transit Connect Taxi - Son of Crown Vic

- posted: 20.07.08
http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/19/new-york-08-preview-ford-transit-connect-taxi-son-of-crown-v/ Filed under: New York Auto Show, Commercial Trucks, FordClick image for a hi-res photo galleryIn the era of the greener taxicab, the extremely capable Ford Crown Victoria is now gauche. Ford knows this, and later this morning in the Jacob Javits Center, it will unveil a new taxi concept that's about as different from the Vic as you can get. The Ford Transit Connect Taxi that was spied last week combines spaciousness and utility with improved fuel economy and reduced emissions thanks to the 2.0-liter four it packs underhood (no hybrid, though, which would be really big in cities like New York). The yellow exterior is offset with matte grey accents, including the combo fascia/bumpers fore and aft. Passengers ride in an airy cabin that feels even more so in the concept thanks to a vista roof that looks nice but would probably never make the cut on a real fleet vehicle. Ford and Microsoft's Work Solutions package powers the system feeding content to the 13-inch display facing the backseat passengers. In addition to acting as the meter and electronic payment interface, the display also supplies "infotainment" info, live traffic and weather, and GPS functionality. Folks who still pay their fares with wallet cabbage can send their greenbacks forward through the concept's fancy little orb in the rear partition (Ford calls it "Sputnik"). As good as the Crown Victoria taxi is, its days are numbered as cities move to green up their taxi fleets. If the Transit Connect can handle the amount of punishment the Vic regularly endures, it's a pretty compelling package. Not only is it more roomy and efficient than the Vic, it could probably be made readily accessible for disabled riders, too. Ford is intent on showing a variety of uses for its new Euro-sourced work van, and this seems like a good one.Gallery: Ford transit Connect Taxi Concept[Source: Ford]Continue reading New York '08 Preview: Ford Transit Connect Taxi - Son of Crown Vic Permalink | Email this | Comments