2003 Nissan 350z Touring Coupe 2-door 3.5l on 2040-cars

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Will Nissan's Cummins deal upset Ram's marketing mojo? [w/poll]

Ram has used Cummins engines in its heavy duty trucks since 1989, and it is the only pickup truck brand to use products from the Indiana-based engine maker. With the announcement that the next Nissan Titan will also use a Cummins powerplant, and a Nissan spokesman having already said "We will definitely leverage the Cummins brand name," a piece in Automotive News wonders whether the deal will affect the way Ram markets its tie-up with Cummins.
The question really is, how intense is this competition? While it is the first time that trucks from two different brands have used Cummins engines, they'll be two different engines in two different kinds of trucks; Nissan is going to put a 5.0-liter turbodiesel in a non-heavy-duty Titan, Ram only uses its 6.7-liter, inline six-cylinder turbodiesel in heavy-duty offerings. The diesel that Ram will offer in its light-duty, half-ton 1500 is a 3.0-liter V6 EcoDiesel with 240 horsepower and 420 pound-feet of torque - compared to about 300 hp and 550 lb-ft expected from the Titan's Cummins - and its marketing so far has focused on the fuel economy gains.
If Nissan was going to prove its commitment to the segment, it had to do something compelling. If we're talking about sales competition between Ram and Nissan, Ram has sold 201,633 trucks as of July this year, up 24.2 percent, 31,314 of those sales coming last month; Nissan has sold 10,020 Titans through the end of July, down 21.1 percent, and just 1,168 in July itself. Nissan's new truck boss - who hopped there from Ram - said that buyers have asked for a powerful turbodiesel in something other than a heavy duty pickup, and from what we've read on various comment boards, the pickup truck crowd is excited about Nissan's move.

NISMO confirms hotter GT-R, return to Le Mans and more performance models [w/videos]

Nissan has made three announcements, all of which intend to sharpen the global significance and sales of its NISMO performance arm. Calling it "a new era for NISMO as its global performance car and motorsports brand," Carlos Ghosn cut the ribbon on the new, larger, nicer NISMO headquarters in Yokohama, Japan. For the first time since the division was founded in 1984, all of its employees are located in one place that was dubbed "a hothouse of passion and performance." Sign us up.
There, the team will start overhauling Nissan's entire range with NISMO models. The Juke NISMO is right around the corner for the US market, the second generation of the 370Z NISMO is coming for 2014, the first GT-R NISMO is being developed, and after that will come "a range of affordable performance Nissan models from small cars to flagship sports cars" - a new model every year. The expanded product line will mean that markets that haven't had access to NISMO's works will finally be able to buy them.
The last big news is that from now on NISMO will manage every one of Nissan's global motorsports programs, and its largest initiative will be prepping an entry for Le Mans in 2014. While Nissan has left the DeltaWing project, it hasn't walked away from experimental racers: the brand aims to have "a pioneering Nissan race car showcasing electric technology" ready in 15 months that shows "a new approach to innovation and excitement."

Mercedes to build CLA at Nissan plant in Mexico [w/poll]

Volkswagen may have paved the way for American customers to get used to the idea of German cars produced in Mexico, but it won't be the only one for long. BMW is said to be considering production of the 1 Series, 3 Series and Mini south of the border, Audi is working on its own factory in San Jose Chiapa, and now Mercedes-Benz is reported to be following suit as well. Only instead of building its own plant, Daimler is tipped to use a Nissan factory in Aguascalientes.
According to a report in Manager Magazin recently cited by Automotive News Europe, that's where Mercedes is considering building the GLA, CLA and another A-Class sedan. Just what the point would be of another sedan based on the A-Class in addition to the CLA, we're not sure, but if Benz can produce the larger CLS in addition to the E-Class and S-Class sedans, we suppose there'd be room for an A-Class sedan alongside the CLA as well.
We're still waiting on confirmation and comment from Mercedes on the prospect, but one way or another, the increase in Mexican production of German automobiles seems to be a foregone conclusion.