Nissan has dropped a sticker of “$32,780—or less” for their Leaf EV. How can it be “less” – that all depends on your tax breaks state-to-state. See, anyone who buys a hybrid or electric vehicle is eligible for thousands of dollars in tax rebates from the government. Amounts tend to vary by state or the type of vehicle purchased. For example: California has a $5000 rebate, Georgia offers a $5000 tax credit, and Oregon will offer a $1500 tax credit.

If your state offers decent incentives, you could be looking at an all new 2011 Leaf for only $27,000.

Nissan begins taking reservations for Leaf April 20. Buyers interested must also pay a refundable $99 reservation fee starting that day. Leaf will be available in certain markets this December, with a national roll-out by 2011.

Source: Car and Driver

Via Jalopnik: This is the Nissan NV, a trio of Titan-based vans available with a 4.0-liter V6 or 5.6-liter V8 and a freaky “High Roof” option. It comes in half-ton, 3/4-ton and full-ton flavors and will make the perfect taco truck.

Nissan’s building it in a range of sizes starting with the half-ton NV1500 which only comes with a normal height roof, then you can move up to the 3/4 ton NV2500 HD and full-ton NV3500 HD, each of which can be had with a freakishly tall roof high enough to stand upright in. Interior measurements are a 120.7 inches in the cargo floor, 70.3-inch floor width and up to 76.5 inches tall inside. The small-time mobile taqueria can be fitted with either a cheap 4.0-liter V6 or the more powerful 5.6-liter V8, both with a 5-speed automatics transmission, GPS and interior cladding to protect the walls from getting bashed up from stuff inside.

It’s hard to ignore who Nissan seems to be targeting with this move as the company initially had an agreement with Dodge to build Ram-based Titans but the deal was killed. Rather than focus on the small commercial vehicle space occupied by the Ford Transit Connect, Nissan is going after the HD commercial truck space occupied by Dodge. Before the NV vans, the only vehicles like this were the Dodge Sprinter, which is crazy expensive, and regular vans with custom fitted roofs. Now Mercedes has reclaimed the Sprinter and Dodge is trying to keep commercial buyers interested in their HD commercial trucks.

Sources: Jalopnik | Nissan USA

The small car / crossover market is growing. With the success of Nissan’s Cube it was time to up the ante with a more stylish, somewhat larger mini-SUV. With that, Nissan is proud to introduce Juke.

Juke measures 157 inches long, 69.5 inches wide and 61.8 inches high. “Juke brings a sense of adventure to the car market,” said Andy Palmer of Nissan PR. “It’s light, nimble, urban, reactive: qualities designed to grab a younger audience. It offers something entirely different to the traditional B-segment vehicles and cements Nissan as a car maker prepared to do something different.”

Inside and out the Juke looks like a sports car. It’s sporty red or silver exterior is reminiscent of Porsche colors. Inside, the crossover includes a stylish dash and racing style seating for front passengers. But don’t worry, we’ve got a roomy 5-seater here.

Juke will be powered by a 1.6-liter gasoline engine, producing somewhere around 117 HP, while the turbocharged version produces 190 HP. A third motor available in Europe is a 1.5 dCi diesel with 110 HP.

Juke has been confirmed for Europe, Japan and the United States – with a world debut schedule for Geneva early next month.

No little white tape can hid that Nissan logo. As you can see the concept drawing and final product have a number of differences, including the front end curves & we’ve got 4-doors instead of 2. According to a report from Autocar, who broke the spy shots online this week, the 2010 Nissan Micra will sports a 1.2 liter gas and 1.5 turbo diesel with a max output of 147 lb-ft of torque.

“Weight-saving” is a major buzzword with the so-called V-cars – it’s reported they use up to 18% fewer parts: dashboard is built from 28 pieces instead of 56, and seats cut off 35 parts from their usual 85.

You really can’t get any more adorable then these little poo-shaped robots from Nissan. The “Eporo” robot car as they are known as travel like a school of fish, without colliding.

The three-wheeled robots use laser range finders and radio communications to duplicate schools of fish. One of the engineers pointed to the practical application of this technology by stating that “We, in a motorized world, have a lot to learn from the behaviour of a school of fish in terms of each fish’s degree of freedom and safety.”

via Jalopnik

The car will qualify as Thailand’s first “Eco-car,” Nissan said. The Thai government is attempting to set up an incentive program for automakers to create more green-friendly cars. It is unclear what standards the new Nissan compact will meet to qualify for the requirement.

The new compact car will be assembled in five different countries, including India, where Renault plans to build a vehicle based on the same platform. The Thai models will be built in Thailand, however. It’s possible that the new car could go on sale in North America – Mexican sales are almost guaranteed.
via LeftLaneNews

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No cinder-blocks holding the chassis up – car rest firmly on that pavement and is, without a doubt, one of the saddest sights we’ve ever witnessed – our condolences. Pics via Jalopnik.

A recent report by AutoBlog proves what we notice walking around Center City, Philadelphia every day – Old People LOVE the 2010 Nissan Cube. Other boxy-type rides like Honda’s Element and Scion’s xB have been geared towards a younger audience – but now it seems the older drivers (40+ who make well over $60,000/yr salary) are obsessed with buying these cars.

It’s clear that trend is here to stay. According to USA Today, each automaker that offers a box-it-came-in mobile here in the United States – a list that includes the Honda Element, Kia Soul, Nissan Cube and Scion xB – reports that the average buyer is over the age of 40 and brings home over $60,000 per year.

via Autoblog

Nissan didn’t announce a price tag on their Leaf, although they claim it will be an affordable, C-segment model. Nissan also states their electric car will be cheaper to maintain, due to less moving parts – and will fall under Government guidelines for tax exemption and/or rebates on fuel efficient/alt. energy vehicles.

The Leaf uses a laminate lithium-ion battery pack with an output of over 90 kilowatts. The car’s drive motor puts out 80 kilowatts of power, substantial enough to give it performance equivalent to a gas-powered car. Nissan claims the Leaf has a range of over 100 miles, fairly typical for electric car projects from other automakers. The Leaf uses regenerative braking, and has a recharge time of 30 minutes to get the battery pack up to 80 percent using a quick charger. From a 200 volt source, the Leaf takes 8 hours to recharge.

The Leaf will be built in Japan, as well as their United States plant in Smyrna, Tennessee.

Source: CNET