Blazer S10 Jimmy Sonoma Alloy Wheel/rim 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 79631 on 2040-parts.com

Renault teases 'Captur' SUV - a baby Juke rival

After a pitiful year of sales for Renault in the UK in 2012 (they plummeted 40% in figures out yesterday), the French are fighting back with a baby SUV designed to repeat the success of inhouse rival the Nissan Juke. It comes a day after local rival Peugeot announced its new 2008 crossover, another rival in this shrunken crossover/SUV contest. What's the Renault Captur based on?  Renault has so far issued only this solitary shady teaser image.

Nissan LEAF EV sales top 50,000

Nissan has revealed that sales of the electric LEAF have now topped 50,000 units since the LEAF went on sale in 2010. We’re not fans of the electric car as a replacement for the ICE car, but some electric cars can give a fair impression (at a a price) of a traditional family car, and the Nissan LEAF probably does it better than any other electric car. The LEAF went on sale in 2010 and, although sales have not been exactly huge, Nissan has revealed that the LEAF has now passed more than 50,000 cars sold in the 17 countries it is available, with the U.S.

Nissan GT-R Nismo confirmed as Nissan opens new Nismo HQ

Nissan has opened a new Nismo HQ in Yokohama and confirmed that there will be a Nissan GT-R Nismo flagship performance car built. So far, we’ve had the Nissan Juke Nismo arrive and the Nissan 370Z Nismo turned up recently too as a production model for the UK and Europe – and we’ve even had a concept of a LEAF Nismo – so we know Nissan are serious about offering Nismo versions even on their least sporty models. But the one car that really doesn’t need a Nismo version is the GT-R, yet to have a range of performance cars under the Nismo banner without having the mighty GT-R at the top of that range would seem odd.