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Club to restore amazeballs Datsun Safari Rally Z

Thanks to the Nissan Restoration Club, a legendary rally car is coming back to life. At the recent Nissan 360 media event, the Japanese automaker announced that its restoration club is bringing the Safari Rally Z back to original running condition. A variant of the Fairlady Z (or Datsun 240Z in the US), the Safari Rally Z has a fastback coupe body and a 215-horsepower inline-six engine. It won East African Safari Rally championships in both 1971 and 1973. The restoration is scheduled for completion this December.
Formed in 2006, Nissan's Restoration Club is comprised of 60 volunteer members who are passionate about Nissan's historic racecars. The club's past restoration projects include the 1964 Skyline racecar and 1947 Tama electric vehicle. Read the press release below for all the details on the latest restoration, and check out the gallery for photos of the Safari Rally Z as well as the 1972 Fairlady 240Z.

2015 Nissan Murano: Introduction [w/video]

Right as winter turned to spring, a 2015 Nissan Murano was added to the Autoblog long-term test fleet. And while we'd like to report that it's been nothing but smooth sailing, the truth is, as we wrote this, the Murano was undergoing its second stint in the service bay at Suburban Nissan in Troy, MI. It only had 2,400 miles on the odometer. In fact, that's part of the reason why it's taken us so long to introduce this new member of the long-term fleet. After driving the new, third-generation Murano late last year, where we learned that Nissan thinks of its stylish crossover as the flagship for the brand, we decided to order one for a full year's worth of testing at Autoblog HQ. Right from the start, our Murano had problems. At 227 miles, the Check Engine Light illuminated. With no warning messages displayed in the car's onboard infotainment system, we took the Murano to the dealer, where a diagnostic check revealed a faulty O2 sensor. A new part was ordered and we were sent on our way. The Murano went back to the dealer, and now, that issue has been resolved. About 100 miles after the O2 sensor failed, the small storage cover on the center console broke. We aren't really sure how, since this small cubby hasn't had a whole lot of use. Rather than explain it in words, see what's going on in the video below. That's not the only issue we've had with the interior, either. We sort of expected the light, almost white leather to show signs of age during the year-long test, but even after just 2,400 miles, the seats are starting to look worn, with obvious discoloration showing on the driver's seat. What's interesting is, we never had this problem with the light-colored leather on our long-term 2013 Pathfinder. Beyond that, parts of the Murano's interior generally feel poorly put together. The door panels pull away upon light tugging (while closing the door, for example), some of the plastics creak, and we've noticed a few small rattles. Some of this is pretty alarming, especially considering the low mileage of our test car. But it stands to reason that these problems could've been baked in from the start. We're told our car had a couple of issues prior to delivery, and we've heard rumblings from other journalists that their test Muranos haven't been up to snuff. Our early impressions of the Murano were generally positive.

VW was 2018's top-selling automaker — but

TOKYO — Volkswagen Group has held on to its position as the world's top-selling automaker for the fifth year in a row, although the German group was edged out again by the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance in the light-duty vehicles segment. Renault SA, Nissan Motor Co Ltd and Mitsubishi Motors Corp together sold 10.76 million passenger cars and light commercial vehicles in 2018, according to Reuters' calculations after new data released on Wednesday. The group doesn't sell heavy trucks. Nissan said on Wednesday it sold 5.65 million vehicles last year, down 2.8 percent on the year. Mitsubishi reported an 18 percent rise in sales to 1.22 million units while Renault sold 3.88 million units, up 3.2 percent on the year. Volkswagen's deliveries rose 0.9 percent to a record 10.83 million last year, including its MAN and Scania heavy trucks, the German company said earlier this month. Excluding heavy trucks, it sold 10.6 million units. Toyota Motor Corp retained its third spot, announcing on Wednesday that it had sold 10.59 million vehicles last year including its Toyota and Lexus brands, along with minicars made by subsidiary Daihatsu and light and heavy trucks produced by its truck division Hino Motors Ltd. Excluding Hino trucks, Toyota sold 10.39 million units last year. The automaker has said it expects to sell a total of 10.76 million vehicles in 2019. Many automakers are trying to boost sales volumes to achieve economies of scale and reduce costs amid soaring investments needed to develop next-generation technologies, including self-driving cars and electric vehicles. This has been a focus of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Motors group, which is looking to share more vehicle parts and consolidate production platforms to trim R&D and manufacturing costs, while raising profitability. The alliance, which brought Mitsubishi Motors into its fold in 2016, is currently in crisis with its former Chairman Carlos Ghosn arrested and indicted on charges of misconduct. Nissan has also been indicted, and Renault appointed new top management last week. Related Video: Earnings/Financials Mitsubishi Nissan Toyota Volkswagen