Nissan remains committed to growing the profile and footprint of its Nismo performance sub-brand outside Japan, and that means expanding the range of bodystyles Nismo works on. Japan has been Nismo's focus, but global Nismo CEO Takao Katagiri told Automotive News, "In overseas markets, the U.S. and Europe included, the so-called globalization of Nismo is something we are going to do from now on." At the moment, that means a "lots of discussions" between the mothership and the racing folks at Nissan Motorsport International Limited, said discussions apparently encompassing Nismo-fied crossovers and pickups. 

Neither a crossover nor a pickup featuring Nismo's trademark red strip would be new. The first U.S.-market Nissan to wear the red flair was the second-gen Frontier, given a Nismo trim package that bolted on items like skid plates, Bilstein shocks, one or two limited-slip differentials depending on the drivetrain, an electronic rear locking diff, and unique 16-inch alloys on 265/75 BFG Rugged Trail tires. Since then, we've also seen the Juke Nismo subcompact crossover, as well as a Sentra Nismo sedan.

SHARON, Conn. — Lime Rock Park racetrack, in the hilly country of far northwestern Connecticut, dates back to 1956 and was a cradle of sports car enthusiasm in America. Today, sports car enthusiasm in America seems to be edging toward the grave, as Americans instead embrace trucks and SUVs of every stripe (or just can't afford an extra car as sports cars tend to be). But the new 2022 Subaru BRZ — together with its Toyota's GR 86 sibling — is bucking the trend. And after driving it on this historic track and in the surrounding countryside, we're happy to report that it now does an even better job reminding us why sports cars are worth saving.

There's irony in Subaru, the brand of sensibly shaped all-wheel-drive wagons and crossovers, being one of the driving forces keeping sports cars alive. And yet, with the arrival of the second-generation BRZ, that's exactly what has happened. The fact that there even is a new BRZ is kind of astonishing. The Subaru-Toyota collaboration that produced the original BRZ and Toyota 86 (nee Scion FR-S) was hardly smooth and hasn't progressed beyond this single-car tie-up. Neither model is central to its brand's market viability, either. Subaru claims that the 42,144 BRZs it has sold in the United States since 2013 is a better-than-expected result, but it still barely represents three months of Outback sales.

Toyota said on Monday it would resume operations of its self-driving e-Palette pods at the Tokyo Paralympic Games village with greater operator control and more safety staff to ensure they did not hit any more people.

The e-Palettes were halted on Friday of last week after one of the vehicles collided with and injured a visually impaired athlete at a junction last week, prompting a YouTube video apology from Toyota Chief Executive Akio Toyoda.

It's been a long time coming, but if you depend on the Electrify America mobile app to find nearby charging stations, you can soon access the software through your vehicle's Android Auto or Apple CarPlay infotainment system. Electrify America announced today it's rolling out support for both systems this week.

The software allows you to find the location of all the approximately 650 charging stations the company operates across the US. You can also see details about each station, including the availability of individual chargers and their capacity. Once you're at a station, you can then use the software to remotely start and stop a charging session.

American Suzuki Motor Corporation filed for bankruptcy in 2012, and new Suzuki-badged cars stopped being sold here the following year (meanwhile, Suzuki went on to create one of the biggest-selling cars in its home market). While many of the United States-market Suzukis of the previous decade had been Daewoos beneath the emblems, the Kizashi sedan was designed and manufactured entirely by Suzuki. There were high hopes – at first – that it would revive the brand's American fortunes. Here's a first-model-year example, found in a San Francsico Bay Area self-service yard a few months back.

The first Subaru available in the United States was the tiny 360 kei car, imported by Malcolm Bricklin starting in 1968. For more than a decade after that, we knew Subarus mostly as cheap, useful little cars, sometimes equipped with manually-selected four-wheel-drive. Then, once the 1980s really got rolling, fancier and more futuristic Subarus began hitting our shores, with sci-fi gadgets, vividly-colored interiors, turbocharging, etc. The wildest of the mid-1980s Subarus was the Alcyone, known as the XT on our shores. You could get an XT with a turbocharger and/or four-wheel-drive, but then Subaru took the car to the next level by designing its first six-cylinder engine and stuffing it under the hood, while making a genuine all-wheel-drive system available at the same time. Today's Junkyard Gem is one of those rare Subarus, found in a yard just south of Denver.

Good morning and welcome to our weekly digest of automotive news from around the globe, starting with…

In a world where "sport" crossovers outnumber actual sports cars, the idea of a wagon, and a performance variant at that, seems far-fetched. With even Volvo discontinuing its special order V90, it seems like such a car could never exist in today's marketplace. Unless, that is, we're talking about Australia.

According to CarExpert, Subaru is bringing a WRX-ified version of the Levorg wagon to Oz. For those not familiar, the Levorg is essentially the successor to the Legacy Wagon. As the Legacy grew in size and became Outback-only in longroof form, the Impreza-based Levorg took its place in markets that were still wagon-friendly, like Japan and Europe, offering a wagon with approximately the same footprint as the fourth-generation Legacy wagon.

Nearly eight years ago today, Toyota sold its 40 millionth Corolla. Now, it's celebrating the 50 millionth.

The 50 millionth car didn't get a special and fabulous sendoff, though, as the most detail Toyota is able to provide is that it was sold "this past July." Maybe you have the 50 millionth Corolla, and you don't even know it. Toyota left folks with the same conundrum when it sold the 40 millionth Corolla, too.

Honda has told its dealerships across the United States to expect a drop in vehicle deliveries due to parts supply issues in Asia.

Electrify America says it’s improving the usability of its mobile app by making it work with both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The added functionality will allow users to locate a charger, stop and start charging remotely and check their charging plan through their vehicle’s infotainment screen.

Following the news that his teammate Esteban Ocon would be extending his stay at the team until 2024, two-time F1 world champion Fernando Alonso looks to do the same, re-signing with the team for the 2022 season.

Toyota will start to assemble fuel cell modules at its Kentucky plant in 2023.

It's only been a couple of weeks since Acura dropped the news bomb that it was bringing back the Integra. In that time, though, the company has quickly applied to trademark the name "Integra Type S" with the US Patent and Trademark Office.

The filing, discovered by Carscoops, was submitted on Aug. 20, a little less than a week after the Integra revival was announced. Curiously, it's under the category of "Apparel and headwear, namely, caps, hats, T-shirts, shirts, sweatshirts, knit shirts, polo shirts, jackets and vests," rather than automobiles.