2012 Nissan Murano Sl on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Nissan IDx future in a coma, prospects dim

The answer, at least for the public, was always a huge "Yes!" when it came to the Nissan IDx Nismo and IDx Freeflow concepts shown off at the Tokyo Motor Show 2013. We were told they were "in the plan" for production if fans got behind them, but that sunk to "increasingly cloudy" plans for production. Two months later we were being told the production version would get less retro styling. But the damning swerve came in January this year, when Nissan said it was shifting priorities to focus on volume offerings. When The Truth About Cars spoke to the VP of product planning for Nissan North America, Pierre Loing, the smothering blanket of reality was thrown over the IDx duo: Nissan has no small, rear-wheel platform to build them on. At least, not one that it could make any money with. The 370Z is built on an architecture too big for the IDx, and sister company Renault only has small front-wheel-drive platforms. The idea of developing a chassis just for the IDx doesn't make any sense, as sales trends for the Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ should show. Will we see anything of the concepts in production guise, then? Loing said Nissan "may have some room" for a product with retro design cues and said to check back "in a few years" to get a final answer. But really, the answer appears to be, "No."

Man sells testicle to buy Nissan 370Z

We aren't entirely sure what's stranger about this story - that a man actually sold a vital piece of his manhood for a car, or that he did it for a Nissan 370Z. That's not to discredit the trusty Fairlady, a car we generally like, but that if we were to do what Mark Parisi did and sell one of his testicles to science, we'd be asking for a helluva lot more than $35,000.
But Parisi did just that, and announced live on CBS' The Doctors (we really can't make this up) that the sale of his nut would go towards the purchase of a Z. According to our friends Down Under (Australia, get your mind out of the gutter), $35K is the going rate for one slightly used testicle, so if you get nothing else from this story, gentlemen, know that you have $70,000 swinging between your legs.

Nissan to present Vision Gran Turismo concept at Goodwood?

Power up your PlayStation and pop in any edition of Gran Turismo and you'll have hundreds of cars to choose from. But arguably few have managed to bridge the gap between that virtual world and reality than Nissan.
The Japanese automaker is the one responsible for putting the best gamers behind the wheel of actual race cars with its GT Academy, co-sponsored by Nissan and Gran Turismo. Yet while the likes of Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volkswagen and Mitsubishi have already revealed their Vision Gran Turismo concepts specifically designed for the game, Nissan has been left behind. And as it is apt to point out in its latest infographic, that's not a position to which it's accustomed.
The graphic outlines all 148 Nissan vehicles you can drive in Gran Turismo, but leaves the last one under wraps, identified only by the date June 10, 2014. That's this Tuesday, when Nissan is hotly anticipated (thanks in no small part to the Tweet below from Nissan VP Andy Palmer) to reveal its own Vision Gran Turismo concept at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.