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- GT-R Eats 60s Classic and Gets Indigestion
- Nissan Moco Wins JD Power Kei Car Prize
- Hot and Fast: Nissan GT-R Fire Truck
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Frowning Monobrow - Ferrari 458 Italia Borrows From Nissan Silvia S15
Well, that is what I think at least. These pics don’t really show it so clearly, but take a look at an S15 Nissan Silvia in the flesh, and the front end / light cluster “frowning mono-brow” look is remarkably similar to the face of the new Ferrari 458 Italia.
The Ferrari looks meaner, as well it should costing many bucket-loads of pachinko winnings more than the Nissan, but the underlying concept is the same, surely? Take a look and see what you think:
Nissan Silvia S15
Wannabe Nissan Silvia
GT-R Eats 60s Classic and Gets Indigestion
While I am a big fan of the technology and sheet ability of the Nissan GT-R, I have to say that for me the styling is definitely function over form. Call me a Ferrari lover all you want, but there is something uniquely challenging about the GT-R’s shape.
And I don’t think I am necessarily the only one out there. So let’s just say I was surprised when Mercedes decided that cross-breeding the late 50s / early 60s classic gull wing SL with the GT-R was the way to go with the metal work for their new Mercedes AMG SLS. It looks like the GT-R gulped down the gull wing and got indigestion for its trouble. Check out the head lights in particular.
2009 Nissan Skyline
2010 Silver AMG SLS Mercedes
As they say in the Eurovision: Styling - nil points.
Auction Finds: 1999 GT-R V-Spec with only 1,390km!
Sometimes I see cars in the Japanese car auctions and I really wonder what the previous owner was like. Take this beautiful Nissan GT-R V-Spec. Bought in 1999 with the same owner ever since, it is immaculately turned out with only 1,390 (authentic) kilometers on the clock. Now, I understand how a proud owner would love their car, but surely a car like this is just begging to be driven. I mean, this car is ten years old, so it has not even managed 200 km each year!
Where has it been? What has it been up to? It’s all a mystery.
Whatever the reasons, the low mileage got the buyers out with it reaching almost 4 million at auction, when regular V-Specs of this age and grading (4.5) would normally average 3.1 million - although they also would typically have about 70,000KM on the clock, whereas this pristine example is only just starting to get run in.
If you are interested in GT-Rs, or any other kinds of vehicles from the Japanese car auctions, please contact us here.
Categories:
auction finds, nissan
Nissan Moco Wins JD Power Kei Car Prize
The kei car concept is now 60 years old, as we noted the other day, and these cars are increasingly sophisticated, despite their limited size and small engines.
The latest JD Power prize for kei cars, based on a survey of 4,298 buyers between October 08 and March 09, resulted in a clear with for the Nissan Moco, which got the top (lowest) score of 81 point. Ironically, the Nissan Moco is an OEM (re-badged) version of the Suzuki MR Wagon. It must be galling for Suzuki as they designed and built the thing, and they end up getting beaten by their own car wearing a Nissan badge.
Perhaps Nissan customers have lower expectations than their Suzuki customer counterparts?
If you are interested in these these cars, or any other kinds of kei cars, trucks or vans, you might want to check out our Japanese car auctions, or contact us here.
Categories:
kei cars, nissan, suzuki
Hot and Fast: Nissan GT-R Fire Truck
Here at Provide Cars, we think the Nissan GT-R is pretty hot stuff. We like these cars so much, we even get a kick out of buying one. Obviously we are not the only ones who think this car is hot. But no GTR is likely to get as hot as this one - the new fire “truck” at the famous Nurburgring in Germany. Whether it can equal the stock GT-R’s laptime of 7:26.70 is another question with all this in the back:
On the other hand, with a 20 meter hose and 50 liters of water on tap, this is the kind of vehicle you want racing to your rescue if things go wrong.
If you are interested in getting more of a standard model, a nice 2008 base grade will set you back about 5.2 to 5.5 million Yen in the Japanese car auctions.
Categories:
nissan
Insight or Prius… or Leaf?
The Honda Insight stole a march (not a March) on the latest Toyota Prius when it arrived in Japan in early 2009. I remember seeing a TV news report here at the time implying that the Insight was not only selling better than Honda’s expectations but that, in fact, it was pretty much the only Honda model that was making it out of the showroom at all.
(Honda were not the only one struggling at that time: In the depths of winter when the prospect of a second Depression seemed very real, we heard that Lexus dealers in Kyoto had managed to sell just one single car in a whole month. Perhaps it was just a rumor, but it seemed very believable at the time.)
Anyway, it seems that the Insight has had its moment of glory: As soon as the new Prius came out, the spotlight shifted. Now it is Toyota who are beating their sales forecasts and the (cheaper) Insight is left languishing. Part of this is probably due to the Prius’ carefully-cultivated brand image. “Hybrid” and “Prius” are almost synomymous, after all. It does not help that it is also seen as an inferior car - however good its fuel economy. Apparently, Honda is working frantically on upgrades, but there are also some tuners out there who are coming up with their own as well. OK, so it might not go faster, ride better or have better economy - but it beats the pants of the standard version when it comes to looks.
The difference in the two brands can also be seen in the sold prices in the Japanese car auctions. I had a look at sold prices for the Prius S and Insight G. Taking sold price results from the last 3 months, the outcome was quite surprising:
- Prius S list price = 2.2 million Yen.
- Prius S average auction price * = 2.38 million Yen
- Honda Insight G list price = 1.89 million Yen
- Honda Insight G average auction price * = 1.75 million Yen
(* This is the average price for cars with delivery mileage only in perfect new condition. Obviously cars with greater mileage would be cheaper. If you want to explore the Japanese car auctions for yourself, click here.)
Whoah! Wait a minute. Let’s look at those Prius prices again. The auction price is higher than the new list price? What is going on there? To be honest I am really not sure, but there are a couple of guesses I will throw out there. First of all, it could be caused by demand. If you have customers beating down your door for a new Prius and Toyota can’t crank them out quickly enough, you need to get your hands on a basically new one to keep up. Another possibility would be that that maybe Toyota customers specify a whole raft of optional equipment on their Priuses which means that these ones at auction were actually worth quite a bit more than the base model to start with. But surely some of the Honda’s would also fit that pattern and yet they show depreciation.
This is all well and good, but what I am wondering is whether in the longer term both of these companies are going to be leapfrogged by Nissan, who seem to be bypassing the hybrid model almost completely and are aiming at having a range of all-electric cars. I can see how Toyota’s lead in hybrid technology would easily become a hiderance. Japanese firms are notorious for clinging to technology they have pioneered long after it has become obsolete. The MiniDisc player is a classic example of this. So Toyota wins the battle, but who will win the technology war?
Categories:
EV, auctions, hybrid, nissan, toyota