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2015 Nissan Pulsar and Pulsar Nismo Concept show Jekyll and Hyde for the hatch

Nissan is showing two very different sides of its new Pulsar five-door hatchback (on the right) at the 2014 Paris Motor Show. On one hand you get to see the standard version hoping to take the fight to popular European models like the Volkswagen Golf and Ford Focus, but also on the stage is our first glimpse at the Pulsar Nismo Concept (above) that demonstrates the vehicle's more devilish side.
The standard Pulsar is hoping to make a dent in the Euro C-segment ranks. It rides on the same platform as the Nissan Qashqai crossover and is actually about 2.4-inches longer than the Golf. Power comes from a trio of choices. There are 1.2-liter and 1.6-liter turbocharged gasoline engines with 113 horsepower and 187 hp, respectively, and a 1.5-liter diesel with 108 hp. CVTs are offered with them all. The Pulsar is also available with a variety of safety tech, including forward emergency braking, lane departure warning and blind spot monitoring.
However, the real excitement comes from the new Nismo Concept. Nissan is clear that it's "only a design study at this stage," but the sporty hatch imagines a flagship for the Pulsar range. It gets the full suite of Nismo goodies with a suspension dropped to the floor and sharper steering. The exterior also benefits from big air intakes in the front bumper, a rear diffuser with central exhausts, flared fenders and carbon fiber trim pieces. The whole thing is finished in satin gray with the division's traditional red trim. The interior has the same motif with race seats and a three-spoke steering wheel.

2015 Nissan Micra

Several years ago, poutine started showing up on the menus of a number of Detroit-area restaurants. For those unfamiliar with the Canadian specialty, it involves serving up french fries, gravy and cheese curds all in one artery-clogging heap. It's not really my thing, but the comfort-food dish has caught hold here in The D, and many absolutely swear by it. In a country where we happily serve Double Down sandwiches, and where competitive eating qualifies as sport, it's hard to believe le poutine isn't spreading like wildfire.
Given Detroit's proximity to Canada, it's not surprising that this culinary creation has managed to find its way across the border. The same thing goes for cars - we Detroiters are routinely privy to lots of Great White North imports. No, we can't buy not-for-US vehicles like the Nissan X-Trail, Mercedes-Benz B-Class (at least, the gasoline version), or now-discontinued products like the Honda Civic-based Acura CSX or EL before it. But Ontario-plated examples of these cars can be seen all the time here in southeast Michigan - it's a far more common occurrence than you might think.
These days, it's rare that an automaker will introduce a model to Canada without offering it up in the United States - especially a car that stands to do big things for a company's presence in North America. But with this 2015 Nissan Micra, that's exactly what's happened; Nissan's US arm has repeatedly stated that there are no plans to offer the car in Yankeeland. Why is the Micra so important? This five-door hatchback enters Canada with the coveted title of being the most affordable new car in the country: just $9,998 Canadian (CAD) to start. In fact, the Micra launches to our north just as the larger, four-door Versa Sedan is phased out in Canada - a vehicle that holds the lowest-cost title here in the US, at $11,990 USD.

Nissan applies for 'R-Hybrid' trademark, but what is it for?

Patent and trademark filings are sort of like tasseography for those of us in the auto industry. If you know where and how to look at something, there's a lot to be figured out. Take this trademark filing from Nissan - it's similar to the Pure Drive badge found on a Versa or Sentra, but the bottom half sports the phrase "R-Hybrid." This wouldn't be remarkable if the "R" in R-Hybrid weren't the same style as the "R" in the Nissan GT-R's badge, right down to the serifs.
While it's easy to see this as grasping at straws, it makes a fair degree of sense. The R35 GT-R may be a dominant performance machine, but it's been around since 2008, which is donkey years in the automotive industry. And based on the recent crop of hybridized hypercars and racecars, a hybrid GT-R doesn't seem like such a stretch.
As Car And Driver points out, figuring out that the GT-R will go hybrid isn't hard - figuring out when it will arrive, is. The buff book rightly points out that a new GT-R isn't expected until 2017, but that designing and trademarking a badge four years ahead of time is a bit odd. Car and Driver speculates that we could see a mildly hybridized R35, although the chances do seem remarkably low. Head over to C/D for a more thorough rundown on why this just might be a GT-R badge, including comparisons with other R-badged Nissans.