Autoblog

The new Nissan Cube will be unveiled the morning of November 19 at the Los Angeles Auto Show, and the automaker has begun the buildup to its arrival. The Cube now has an official website, where you can count down the days and see more on the Cube art cars that design students prepared for the '08 New York Auto Show, among other things. Nissan's covering all the bases, also getting the Cube set up on Facebook and other social networking sites in the meantime.

We like the Cube a lot, and hope the new version keeps the character of the current Japanese car intact while delivering power and fuel economy geared to appeal to the U.S. buyer. We don't think Nissan's going to botch this, so and shoppers looking to get their geek ought to have a strong candidate from Nissan. Not that it'll be without competition -- the Scion xB, Honda Element, and Kia Soul will all be vying for peoples' attention, too. Let the geekmobile deathmatch begin. Thanks for the tip, Turkey Pie!


[Source: Nissan]

Click above for high-res gallery of the 2008 Nissan Cube

You know that you have a disorder when you're as enthused about an econobox as you are to get seat time in something like a Rolls or Bentley. But that's me, and that's how I felt when I got the call at my desk telling me that my new media ride was downstairs waiting for me. I quietly walked out to the stairwell and then, when the door shut behind me, I bounded down them two at a time, like a kid running downstairs on Christmas day. I stepped out into the sunlight, and there it was in all its delightfully quirky, 100% JDM glory: a 2008 Nissan Cube. And for the next four days, it was mine.


All photos Copyright ©2008 Alex Núñez / Weblogs, Inc.

Click above for a high-res gallery of the Nissan Cube.

Let's just get this out of the way right now: this blogger is going to buy one of these cars when they come to America. And I'm a die-hard 385-plus-horsepower sports car owner for years now. And I live in LA. But the Cube is just that great. So Nissan, don't pull a bait-and-switch, please...

The Cube is basic, and makes no attempt to dress it up. In fact, not only is the car not gussied up, but the entire interior of the car I drove was beige. And it was still hot. It's basic done completely right, with tons of cubbies and comfort in an enormous (relatively speaking) cabin and a unified design theme inside and outside that ties it all together.

The 1.5-liter, 107-HP engine has got the giddy-up-and-go, and the car is so much fun to drive that you'll cackle like an old hen every time you throw it around a corner. I admit I won't be buying one in sky blue, and it won't have the third row -- that row is more than a bit optimistic -- but I will have no problem showing everyone I know that "cool" is now spelled "cube."

You can check out the Nissan 360 event site for more details on all the vehicles in Nissan's lineup. In the mean time, be sure to check out the gallery of hi-res photos below.



Our travel and lodging for this media event was provided by the manufacturer.

Click the Denki Cube for a high res gallery

By mid-2009, Nissan plans to cover the entire gamut of the automotive spectrum, ranging from the compact Cube to the supercar-fighting GT-R. That's the word from Nissan this morning as they announced that the new Cube will come to the US market next year to fill the void left behind by the dearly departed first gen Scion xB. For now, Nissan is only showing off the current gen Cube that's available in Japan along with the Denki Cube. The Denki is the lithium ion battery-powered version that Nissan is testing and hopes to bring to market early in the next decade. The batteries are a new laminated lithium type that are stashed under the floor and rear seats. Nissan has a joint venture with NEC to supply batteries for the new energy storage system.



[Source: Nissan]

Since the success of the Scion xB in North America, many people have been waiting for the vehicle that originated the boxy craze, the Nissan Cube, to hit this continent. Fueling more rumors have been recent spy shots of the vehicle at Pratt Institute in New York that surfaced on Jalopnik. The shots go hand in hand with Nissan's announcement that four design school modified Cube's will be on display at the 2008 New York International Auto Show in April. Nissan has given two Cubes each to the Brooks Institute film school in Santa Barbara, CA and Pratt Institute, School of Art and Design in New York City. The film students have been given the assignment of creating a short video intended to capture the toaster-like vehicle's essence. The design students are to do what they do best, modify the interior and exterior elements to meet their own visions. While the whole artsy marketing ploy has been done by Scion, their efforts were much more urban street custom while Nissan's aim seems to be a scholastic and structured image.

The official press release after the jump.

[Source: Nissan]

Click image for a photo gallery of the Nissan Cube

The Nissan Cube is one of the poster children for the term "econobox." Square and thrifty, the teensy MPV can be outfitted to carry five or seven passengers (the latter is known as the Cube³ in Japan) in quirky style and relative comfort. Over the last couple of years, there has been no shortage of reports claiming that the Cube will head stateside in 2008 following its scheduled redesign. The latest outlet to report this is the Nikkei, which said the Cube is all but certain to arrive (along with two other unnamed subcompacts). Unfortunately, that's all the detail given. We just hope the next Cube is as quirky-cool as the current one, with its asymmetrical styling and the variety of front end treatments applied to the different versions on the Japanese market. Enough already with the detail-free media reports. Get on with the redesign, show it to us, and tell us when we can finally buy it. Oh, and while you're at it -- keep it on the inexpensive side, okay?

In the interim, enjoy the gallery we've put together of the current Cube family.

Thanks for the tip, Josh!

[Source: AFX News via Forbes.com]

Narrowly missing setting a new reocrd for the largest recall in the company's history, Nissan is recalling 1.01 MIL March (aka Micra) and Cube models. That figure is just 20,000 vehicles shy of the 1.03 MIL car recall they issued in 2003. The current recall is to fix faulty fuel tanks that may leak or crack. According to the just-auto report, UK-built Nissan Micras are not effected, only Japanese built samples.

Nissan joins Honda in announcing a million-plus-vehicle recall in just the past month. The staggering volume of the recalls is due to the fact that many manufacturers are sharing as many components across their lineup as possible to reduce costs through economies of scale. Unfortunately, that means when there is an issue with one of those parts, a whole lot of them need to be fixed. While only 59 complaints have been filed, they were enough to warrant the recall. The cars involved were built between 1991 and 2000, and only about 600,000 are still believed to be on the road. The bulk of those are in Japan, but some are still in use in Singapore and Brunei, according to a Nissan spokesperson.

[Source: just-auto]

Finally answering the cult of Element enthusiasts (hey, we know a few), Honda is set to rock its Box with a production version of SC prototype unveiled here in New York.

Lowered three-inches on a sport suspension and seen here on 21" wheels and tires (245/35R21), the 2007 Element SC prototype sports a full body kit, painted exterior paneling and trim, and most obviously, a reworked nose with blacked-out grille and projector-beam headlamps.

The Element SC's interior has received a light revamp as well, netting a reworked center console, full interior carpeting (in place of the current Element's washable flooring), 'copper hue instrument panel' with LED backlighting and piano black trim.

Also indicative of the direction Honda is taking with its Element, the concept's 2.4-liter i-VTEC engine gets a ten pony bump to 166 horsepower, courtesy less-restrictive intake and exhaust systems, as well as high-lift cams. The throttle will henceforth be drive-by-wire, and the automatic sprouts a fifth gear.

In the safety arena, the Element gets a new seat belt design that eases entry and exit to the rear seat-- a common complaint among H-Box afficianados. This, along with a side curtain airbags, stability control, and anti-lock supervision.

A production version of the urbanized Element is set for this fall.

(full press release and tons of photos after the jump!)

[Source: Honda]