Car Automotive and Design

Showing posts with label Japan. Show all posts

A Street Full of Tuned Rolls Royce Phantom Limos, Coupes and Convertibles

How often do you see a street occupied by a plethora of Rolls Royce Phantom models of all sorts including the limo, the Coupe and the Drophead Coupe variants?

But wait, did we mention that all Phantoms were custom tuned? Now that's a sight you never forget.

You'd be inclined to believe that such a happening would most likely take place in Dubai, and you'd be partially right. We say partially because the street is named Dubai but it's not located in the United Arab Emirates but on the other side of the world in Tokyo, Japan.

Make your way through the jump to watch the videos.

Mazda to Exit Commercial Vehicle Manufacturing Business After 2015

More problems for Mazda Motor Corp., which doesn't seem to be going as well as its management had hoped after the company broke free (or so to speak) from the Ford group back in 2008.

Today, Japanese business daily Nikkei reported that Mazda has decided to pull the plug on its commercial vehicle division in the second half of the decade due to declining domestic demand.

While the company will continue to offer commercial vehicles, it will no longer develop or produce them.

Big in Japan: High Domestic Demand May Affect U.S. Supply of Toyota’s Prius C Small Hybrid

The good news for Toyota is that its recently launched Prius C hybrid is proving to be a hit. In Japan, where it went on sale last December as the Aqua, the sub-compact hybrid received 60,000 orders even before it was even launched and that number has now increased to 120,000 units.

The Prius C / Aqua is manufactured exclusively in Japan at Toyota's Iwate plant. While in 2007, the plant exported around 60 percent of its output, that number has now been halved to 30 percent.

Therefore, the bad news is that despite Toyota's boasting about the fact that it only took three days for the Prius C to sell more units than the Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet combined in one month, the Japanese automaker may not be able to satisfy demand for its hybrid model in the U.S. market.

2012 Ferrari 599XX Evolution Makes its Debut Run at Suzuka

The crew over at Japan's Car Nifty sent us this video of the new 2012 Ferrari 599XX Evolution performing its first runs on the track at Suzuka following the racing car's world premiere at the Bologna Motor Show last December.

The debut took place during the first event of the Ferrari Racing Days that groups together the races for the entrants in the Asia-Pacific series of the Ferrari Challenge Tofeo Pirelli and the track sessions for clients involved in the 599XX and F1 programmes.

Nissan Silvia S14 Looks Ready to Pick a Dog Fight

While not the first World War II fighter jet-themed automobile we've shown you, we can't remember seeing the motif applied to a Nissan Silvia S14 (sold as the 240SX in North America as the 200SX in Europe).

This one in particular is said to be inspired from German jet fighters and is distinguished by the attention to details, right up to a certain sign of an equilateral cross that appears on the rear bumper and front fenders – more commonly known as the Swastika, the most hated and prominent symbol of Nazi Germany.

Something tells us the owner of the car won't be making a lot of friends…

Subaru Kicks Off Series Production of BRZ and Toyota 86 in Japan

Subaru held a special ceremony today at its Gunma factory in Ota-city, Japan, to mark the series production start of the Subaru BRZ and Toyota 86 (named GT 86 in Europe) rear-wheel drive coupes. The presidents of both companies attended the event.

The factory, which will produce both models as well as the Impreza by March 2013, underwent several changes to cope with the extra capacity.

Oops…Toyota 86 Coupe Drifts Into a Metal Barrier in Japan

Drifting a lightweight, rear-wheel drive coupe like the Toyota 86, which is Japan's version of the North American Scion FR-S and the European Toyota GT 86, on a wet parking lot can be loads of fun just as long as you accept the increased risk of losing control.

Which is what happened to one of the drivers trying out the 86 at a parking lot in Odaiba, Japan, last Friday on March 9.

Fortunately for the driver, he didn’t hit the metal barrier hard thus reducing the damages to the car. If you want to see what happened, head past the break for the video.

Mazda CX-5 Orders in Japan Surpass Mazda’s Original Estimates by 8 Times in the First Month

Mazda revealed today that it has received close to 8,000 orders for its brand new CX-5 crossover in Japan since February 16.

Now, either the Hiroshima-based carmaker was extermely conservative in its projection or the locals have really taken to the new crossover because that figure is eight times the original monthly estimate of 1,000 sales.

eBay Find: 1975 Datsun 620 Pickup Truck with Buick Small Block V8

While not on the radar of most collectors, vintage Japanese automobiles are slowly gaining followers in the States.

Found on eBay is this 1975 Datsun 620 pickup truck that has been restored but not to its original condition - at least not mechanically.

The owner of the relatively rare today 620 fitted the small truck with a 215 c.i. (3.5-liters) Buick small block V8 linked to a new all-wheel drive system, while he also jacked up the suspension.

Boastful Ferrari 458 Driver in Trouble with the Police after YouTube Video

In yet another case of police using evidence from a YouTube video to warrant an arrest, a Japanese doctor from Japan has been caught and faces possible jail time after posting a clip of his drive in a Ferrari 458 Italia on the video-sharing website.

The 50-year old man placed a camera behind the driver's seat and recorded himself speeding along highways and coastal roads. The clip was filmed on the morning of April 24, 2011.

According to Japanese daily The Mainichi Daily News, in May, some angry YouTube users reported the video to the police who calculated that he was traveling at more than three times the 40km/h (25mph) speed limit at 124km/h (77mph).

Nissan Plans to Revive Datsun Brand for Emerging Markets Including Russia, Indonesia and India

It's been more than two decades since Nissan Motors phased out its Datsun brand to strengthen its own company name.

But times and circumstances changes and here we are with Nissan now planning to wake up its old Datsun brand from the dead, according to a report from Japanese business daily Nikkei that was forwarded by Reuters.

The newspaper said that Nissan wants to use the Datsun brand name on a new lineup of low cost vehicles tailor made for emerging markets starting from 2014. The move is reminiscent of Renault's decision to buy out the Romanian automaker Dacia in 1999 for the same purpose.

Nissan Reveals New Almera Sedan for Russia, goes on Sale Next Year

The Almera nameplate is set to make a return to Nissan's lineup as a compact-sized sedan model, which the company says has been developed exclusively for Russia and will be manufactured locally in Togliatti on an all-new production line starting from early next year.

According to the Japanese automaker, Nissan engineering teams in Japan, the UK and Russia developed the new Almera.

However, the single photo released by Nissan, suggests otherwise as the new Almera appears to be based on the second generation of the Japanese market Bluebird Sylphy that uses Nissan's B-platform and which was introduced in the country back in 2005.

HKS Dyno-Tests Toyota 86 Drift Racer, Prepares New Tuning Lineup that Includes a Supercharger

Famed aftermarket and motorsport specialist HKS has released a new video of the Toyota 86 race car it is working on to participate in the 2012 season of Japan's D1 Grand Prix production car drifting competition. The new clip shows the 86 being tested on the dyno.

As well as the motorsports version of the 86, which you should know by now is a sister model to the Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ rear-wheel drive coupes, the Japanese company is also preparing a raft of tuning parts for the production model.

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