A glimpse of upcoming Prius V, Fit Wagon & facelifted Fairlady Z (370Z)

New BC issue will be out soon and the front cover shows three upcoming models: The new Prius V to be unveiled at Detroit this month, the upcoming Fit Wagon (earlier post) and what appears to be the facelifted Nissan Fairlady Z (aka 370Z)!

Check out my blog soon, as some very interesting material is underway straight from Japan!!!

Honda CR-Z and Jazz Hybrid video review by CAR

Sneak peek at orange LFA going to Detroit Auto Show!!!

If you are planning to visit the 2011 Detroit Auto Show, which opens in a few days, then you will be able to see live this amazing orange LFA!!!

[Source: Lexus USA]

Toyota Prius surpasses Corolla's sales record in Japan

Almost one month ago, it was reported that the last-gen Toyota Prius has sold more than 300,000 units in Japan (earlier post) and now that 2010 is over, the final number is 315,000 units (the Corolla set the record 20 years ago in 1990, selling 300,008 units)!!!

[Source: SankeiBiz; Source of photo: Fukuoka Toyota]

Live photos of SKYACTIV components

Back in October 2010, Mazda released details about its next-gen powertrain technologies, called SKYACTIV (earlier post). Although nothing new has been published, I came across with some live photos showing the new SKYACTIV components, or at least some of them, which I found interesting.

[Source: Response]

Suzuki to introduce more fuel-efficient engine for its JDM minicars - MR Wagon first to use it

Nikkei reported that Suzuki will introduce an all-new engine for its minicars in Japan for the first time in roughly 16 years. The new 0.66 L engine is expected to have a fuel efficiency of 27 km/L, which is 20% less than the current engine, when combined with a Stop/Start system.

This would enable Suzuki minicars to achieve a fuel economy comparable to that offered by Daihatsu’s new Move (related posts), which hit the market last month. Suzuki plans to invest a total of 20 billion yen [US$246 million] over three years to retool its Sagara factory in Shizuoka Prefecture to make the new engine.

All future versions of the company’s minicars, including the Wagon R and the Alto, will eventually be powered by the engine. The first to feature it will be the new MR Wagon, slated for launch this month.

[Source: Nikkei via Green Car Congress]

Japan pushing adoption of fuel cell vehicles by 2015

Japanese automakers may be investing a lot in EVs, but this doesn't mean that they have given up on fuel cell tech. According to a report published by The Nikkei, the Japanese government will launch a public-private initiative aimed at applying hydrogen used in oil refining to power fuel cell vehicles.

It states that with Japan moving towards the adoption of fuel cell vehicles by 2015, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry wants to secure a steady supply of high purity hydrogen - the hydrogen used in fuel cells is 99.99% pure, while the hydrogen that is used by oil distributors is about 90% pure.

Now technology will be developed to extract the high purity hydrogen with the aim of creating a new source of income. The undertaking will cost around 500,000,000 ¥ over a three-year period from fiscal 2011 onwards with the ministry to pay around half these costs.

[Source: Nikkei via TheGreenCarWebsite.co.uk]

Yet another shot of BC's 2011 Nissan Tiida rendering

This is not a new rendering, but it's another shot from the latest issue of Best Car magazine. The new Tiida successor will make its debut in 2011 and the top version, probably badged as GT, will be powered by the 1.6 L turbocharged MR16DET engine (earlier post). The weight is expected to be around 1,100 kg and thus performance shouldn't be bad at all.

Already, some prototypes have been caught during testing and some shots revealing the interior have already been posted (earlier post).

[Source: IMP-X's blog]