Filed under: Plants/Manufacturing, Infiniti, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan

Nissan breaks ground today on an expansion to its Decherd, Tennessee engine plant and will start churning out powerplants for Infiniti and Mercedes-Benz models in about four years.

The plant already builds four-, six- and eight-cylinder engines for several Nissan models as well as the Infiniti JX SUV. In 2011, the Decherd plant built 580,000 engines. The expansion will boost production capacity by as much as 250,000 units per year.

Nissan's partnership with Mercedes-Benz, announced in January, has the Decherd facility supplying engines to Merecedes' only North American plant in Vance, Alabama. The four-cylinder will be installed in the German company's C-Class sedans.

"This is the newest milestone in our pragmatic collaboration and our most significant project outside of Europe so far," said Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn in a January press release. "Localized capacity reduces exposure to foreign exchange rates while rapidly enabling a good business development in North America - a win-win for the Alliance and Daimler."

Nissan breaks ground on new engine plant in Tennessee originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 11 May 2012 10:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Spy Photos, Coupe, Europe, Nissan, Racing

Nissan announced earlier in the month that it would be fielding a factory team in the 24 Hours of Nürburgring, piloting a 2012 GT-R. The car is reportedly a Club Track Edition, a race-ready derivative sold in Japan, and our spy shooters have spotted it out in the wild.

The car is only lightly camouflaged, with coverings over parts of the the front fascia, hood, and rear windows. We will admit that your guess is as good as our as to what might lie beneath the wrapping, but given that Nissan has said the only changes from production car to race car are some added downforce in the front and a new rear wing, we'll just go with "nothing" as our answer.

Nissan GT-R 24h Nrburgring race car caught testing originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 25 Apr 2012 09:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Budget, Sedan, Videos, Nissan, Beijing Motor Show, Design/Style

Starting with the 2013 Altima, Nissan will be launching five all-new products in the United States over the next 15 months. And while the sedan you see here is initially heading to China as the Nissan Sylphy, it'll be heading to our shores as the Sentra later this year, albeit with a few market-specific tweaks.

For now, Nissan has released a short video teaser of the North American-spec 2013 Sentra, which you can view after the jump. The video shows the new compact sedan in its SR trim, which Autoblog has learned is only a North American-specific trim package. The rest of the Sylphy's styling appears to carry over largely unchanged, with new details like LED running lamps and taillamps rounding out a design that's essentially a downsized version of what we see on the new Altima.

In China, the Sylphy will be launched with a 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine mated to Nissan's next-generation Xtronic continuously variable transmission. It might not be an all-new powertrain, but remember, this is the same strategy that Nissan is using with the new Altima - one that has paid big dividends in fuel economy. The engines themselves haven't changed, but with an improved CVT, we should see gains in not only performance but fuel economy, as well.

We'll see the North American-spec 2013 Sentra this summer with the car officially going on sale this fall. Scroll down to watch a teaser video of the Sentra SR, and to read the full press materials about the Chinese-market Sylphy.

Continue reading 2013 Nissan Sentra previewed by new Sylphy in Beijing [w/video]

2013 Nissan Sentra previewed by new Sylphy in Beijing [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 23 Apr 2012 10:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Motorsports, Coupe, Performance, Europe, Japan, Nissan

There are plenty of ways to test a vehicle's durability. You might hand the keys to your average teenager for a week or plop a journalist behind the wheel for an hour. Or you could simply enter the machine in the 24 Hours of Nürburgring. Nissan has opted for the latter option for the company's upgraded-for-2012 GT-R. The automaker's development team want to fully stress the supercar's systems by putting it through one of the world's most grueling endurance races. Of course, the fact that Nissan wants to one-up Porsche in its own backyard certainly doesn't hurt, either.

Nissan has thrown a bit more downforce at the vehicle's front end and the factory wing has been replaced as well, but the engine, transmission and suspension all remain unaltered from the factory Club Track edition. The competition vehicle will wear slightly wider tires, as well as safety cage and a larger fuel cell to accommodate the race regulations. The factory brakes have also been swapped out for more aggressive hardware.

Nissan says some of the changes may make their way to production in the near future as the company pushes the vehicle to break the seven minute lap time barrier at Germany's most famous track. Scroll down to see the video for yourself.

Continue reading Nissan entering stock GT-R in 24 Hours of Nrburgring

Nissan entering stock GT-R in 24 Hours of Nrburgring originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 09 Apr 2012 11:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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