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2014 Nissan Versa Note pushes the little hatchback forward

Alright, truth time: The Nissan Versa isn't exactly our favorite car in the subcompact class. It's certainly competent, reliable transportation, but it's hardly an emotional purchase choice. Perhaps this new version of the Versa, then, can change our minds a bit. Meet the Versa Note - the cuter, five-door version of the li'l sedan, making its debut here at the 2013 Detroit Auto Show.
Aesthetically, the Versa Note is a pretty pleasant-looking thing; we've seen it before in JDM-spec. It's a decidedly aerodynamic thing, too, with a drag coefficient of just 0.29. And because of that - as well as an efficient little powertrain - the Note will achieve up to 40 miles per gallon on the highway.
Under the hood is Nissan's 1.6-liter inline four-cylinder engine churning out a furious 109 horsepower and 107 pound-feet of torque. Like, well, every other Nissan car, the Versa is equipped with a continuously variable transmission and will drive the front wheels exclusively. Base S models can be had with a five-speed manual transmission, but the moment you step up to a higher trim level, the do-it-yourself shifter goes away.

Renault planning a Tata Nano rival. Again.

Four years ago, Renault confirmed that it would partner with India's Bajaj Auto to develop a rival to the Tata Nano. At the time, as everyone waited for the Tata Nano to arrive, you could have used a Richter scale to measure the tremors the executive suites of any automaker with an interest in the low end of emerging markets. Then the Nano, still the cheapest car in the world, didn't sell so well - at the end of last year its sales were just six percent of its most conservative projections - and everyone seemed content to let Tata spend the money to figure out if there really was a market for the cheapest car in the world.
Renault believes there is, kind of. Automotive News Europe reports that it will partner with Nissan to build two low-priced cars for emerging markets, one for €3,000 ($3,888 U.S.) and another for €5,000 ($6,400 U.S.). The price of the least expensive offering is nearly $1,400 more than a Nano, which costs $2,500, and that can't be considered a small sum in comparison. But one of the hindsight knocks on the Nano has been that even in emerging markets buyers don't want a car whose biggest lure is that it is cheap; they'd rather give their aspirations a bit more of a workout.
Renault's offerings are scheduled to hit the non-Western market in late 2014, which is coincidentally the same year that will see the return of the budget-minded and emerging-market-specific Datsun nameplate. They'll be built in Renault facilities in Chennai, India, with no mention made of Bajaj this time around.

2014 Nissan Rogue gives us our best look yet

Nissan is reportedly fast-tracking the development of its next-generation Rogue crossover, and judging by this latest set of spy shots, the new small CUV is coming along quite nicely.
To no one's surprise, the new Rogue takes the vast majority of its design cues from the Hi-Cross concept that debuted at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show, and specific elements like the pronounced wheel arches, angular nose, flat roofline and more stylized taillmaps should make for a Rogue that's far more style conscious than the model it replaces. This stronger design language should help the new Rogue to better stand out in the sea of Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4 rivals.
There's far more to the new Rogue than just some swoopier sheetmetal, though. This crossover is expected to be the first vehicle to ride on the Renault-Nissan CMF (Common Module Family) platform, an architecture flexible enough to eventually support a host of new products. As we reported earlier, the next Rogue will be built in the US, in Tennessee.