Hot News: Nissan& MX-5 Rival is Back

Japanese giant Nissan’s rival to the Mazda MX-5 is back on the agenda – and it’s going electric.

The company had shelved plans to revive the legendary rear-wheel-drive 200SX back in 2008. But work on the project has started again, as part of Nissan’s push to launch 52 new cars by 2016. Before the 2+2 was canned, the plan had been for it to sit on the 370Z platform, with power from the 188bhp 1.6-litre turbo found in the Juke.

Now, though, we have learned that the car – which is likely to get an entirely different name – will use a new chassis. In March this year, Daimler bosses signed an agreement to supply mid-size platforms to Nissan, which would accommodate everything from four-cylinder motors to V8s.

This will not only underpin the new MX-5 rival, but also the 370Z replacement and the next GT-R. The Infiniti G and a new sports car from the luxury brand will also use it. Insiders in Japan believe that bosses have yet to make a decision on what will power the new Nissan, but a tuned version of the Leaf’s drivetrain and a hybrid set-up are under consideration.

The company has previously expressed an interest in an all-electric rear-wheel-drive sports car, with the ESFLOW concept, which debuted at the Geneva Motor Show in March. To ensure sharp handling, our sources have revealed that Nissan will get help in tuning the chassis from Lotus Engineering; the Brits could also assist with a new lightweight construction. Expect the new model to arrive in 2013, with a price tag of around £20,000.
Thanks to: Auto Express

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New Car: 2013 Mazda CX-5

The Mazda CX-5 small crossover—previously seen as the Minagi concept earlier this year—will be unveiled at September’s Frankfurt auto show. (Well, at least the Euro-market version pictured here will be; our model should differ only slightly, if at all.) It will be the first Mazda to wear the company’s new Kodo styling language, which replaces the current, smile-intensive Nagare theme.
The CX-5 retains virtually all of the Minagi’s styling cues and body lines, and the look is nicely tailored and well executed. But stripping away the show-car glitz—specifically the aluminum-look accents to the grille, fog-light surrounds, and window line, and the shiny, black-painted molding—makes the final product look, well, bland and a bit less upscale in comparison.
Peeking inside, however, we find reason to get excited. The cabin is rich looking, with a very simple and well-laid-out design, and we especially like the uncluttered center stack. Expect to see an available navigation system that’s controlled by a console-mounted rotary knob and possibly a multifunction display located in the right-most section of the instrument cluster.
In Europe, the CX-5 will be offered with Mazda’s new Skyactiv-G 2.0-liter gasoline engine and Skyactiv-D 2.2-liter diesel in multiple iterations with various outputs. Both automatic and manual transmissions are on the menu, likely also of the Skyactiv variety. (The term is being widely applied to Mazda’s efficiency-minded powertrain components.) In the U.S., the Skyactiv-G will be installed in the 2012 Mazda 3, making 155 hp and 148 lb-ft of torque, and the company says it’s still on track to bring a diesel engine to our shores in 2012. While there’s no official word yet from Mazda confirming that the diesel will come in the U.S.-spec CX-5 and not the 3 or 6, we fully expect to see both engines available in our version, albeit each in a single tune, when it arrives next year.
Thanks to: Car and Driver

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