Displaying Items By Tag: Artisan

Most of our Nissan GT-R thinking energy these days goes toward wondering about what the R36 has in store. Nissan is out here thinking about what the GT-R will be like in 2050. If we continue along at the R35's production timeline pace, it might still be the R36 then. We kid, but hey, the R35's been out for over a decade now with no end in sight.

As an answer for what the future of Nissan performance looks like, Nissan has brought an intern's thesis project to life. It's called GT-R (X) 2050, and it's a fresh take on our dystopian future of sports cars. Jaebum Choi, a former student at ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, Calif., set forth to design a vehicle for car enthusiasts in the age of self-driving cars (whenever that may be). Instead of leaving the project on paper and computer renderings, Nissan Design America decided to bring it to life in the form of an official Nissan concept vehicle.

The 2022 Mitsubishi Outlander is making the rounds on social media this week after being spotted at a photo shoot, confirming a design we first saw in Geneva last year. 

Mitsubishi's new crossover was spotted staging for photos by an anonymous photographer, who snapped a few choice shots and shared them with allcarnews on Instagram. The quality of the photos is far from fantastic, but there's enough detail to confirm that the new Outlander will be an almost direct lift of the Engelberg Tourer Concept which Mitsubishi showed in Geneva last year.

Identifying a new or a late-model Lexus is child's play: Look for the giant spindle-shaped grille. It's a styling cue that defines all of its recent models, and designing an electric car is evidently not an excuse to get rid of it. Lexus published a dark teaser image that previews an electric concept that will usher in its next design language.

Like parent company Toyota, Lexus has long resisted the shift towards electric cars by fervently arguing hybrids make more sense. But, as even its home country mulls a blanket ban on internal combustion technology, it's left with no choice but to go electric. It already sells a battery-powered variant of the UX in Europe, but the concept it previewed on its social channels was designed as an electric car from the get-go.

Anyone who owns the WRC 9 video game will be able to drive the Toyota GR Yaris Rally Concept from the comfort of their homes, on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.

Lexus and Expedition Overland have turned the LX 570 flagship SUV into the most capable version of itself.

Lexus transformed the LX, its biggest SUV, into a supercharged off-roader that sends chills down the Ford F-150 Raptor's spine. Although it's only a concept, it will attempt to tame the desert during the 2020 Rebelle Rally.

Based on the venerable Toyota Land Cruiser, the LX is a formidable off-roader even without any modifications. Many examples nonetheless end up decked out with aftermarket parts, and it's these go-anywhere rigs that inspired Lexus to create the J201. Its name comes from URJ201, which is the current LX's internal designation.

Nissan put a Leaf on stilts to show how electric cars can help emergency response workers in the field. Cleverly called Re-Leaf, its latest concept was developed to deliver electricity where and when it's most needed.

Made by British race car builder RJN Motorsport, the design study is based on the Leaf Plus, which benefits from a bigger and more usable battery than the standard model. Normally, the 62-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack simply zaps the front wheels into motion. In the Re-Leaf, it can also dispense electricity via three sockets. Two are on the outside of the hatchback, under weatherproof covers, and the third is integrated into the trunk.

Infiniti has pulled the sheet off its QX60 Monograph — a styling exercise meant to preview the forthcoming production replacement for its three-row crossover. Infiniti insists that while this is not the production QX60 replacement, it is close enough to not merely be labeled a "concept."

Whatever Infiniti wants to call it, it's impressive. This slick design blends elements of the original Infiniti FX line with some of the luxury brand's more recent artistic direction (see: the big, fat grille) and perhaps a little dose of European flavor; we'd be lying if we said there wasn't some Jaguar F-Pace evident in that profile. 

Acura brought its Type S concept to last year's Monterey Car Week as a glimmer of what we could expect from the all-new TLX coming next year. Since then, we've had better glimpses of the sedan in unintended leaks, the first in Acura's own infotainment system, now in patent images from the European Union Intellectual Property Office. Discovered by French forum Worldscoop, the details in the grayscale drawings match the color image from the infotainment software, giving us another look at hotly anticipated sedan that will infuse much-needed excitement into Acura's lineup. Even though the images show rear bumper cutouts plenty large enough to house quad pipes, the patent is presumed to show the standard TLX trim, not the Type S trim we know is coming.

Even so, we can see plenty of Type S concept influence even with the less aggressive bodywork, such as the narrower upper grille and more pronounced lower grille, the garnish on the lower intakes, the side mirror design, and flared rear fenders. The rear end in the patent shows the same taillamps and decklid shutline, aero vents in the bumper, and the reshaped license plate holder moved from the trunk to the bumper. 

The 2021 Nissan Rogue was outed by Brazilian authorities last month and it appears their Argentinean neighbors wanted in on the fun as they've apparently revealed the production version of the Ariya concept.

There is something eerie about driving concept cars. It's not that they're priceless one-offs, painstakingly created by a host of craftspeople. And it's not that they're champingly bridled, powered by a full battery array, yet only able to be driven at 5 mph for safety's sake. And it's not that it's illegal to drive them on public roads, especially in Japan, so you're forced to conduct yourself in an abandoned-looking bay-front industrial parking lot. It's creepy because moving around in a vehicle that is, at heart, nothing but a fantasy, lends credence to the underlying delusion, makes such a car seem possible, real. Driving a concept car backfills the uncanny valley.

This is especially true if the concept in question is a Mercedes-EQ sedan, an elegantly ovoid, full-size, battery-powered, ultra-luxury four-door. Mercedes has not made any secret of the fact that it plans to grow its all-electric EQ sub-brand to include an entire vehicle line. And one of them must necessarily be an S-Class-like sedan, a marque signature for decades. In fact, the brand has officially stated that it will sell an all-electric vehicle very much like the Vision EQS Concept, alongside a new gasoline- or hybrid-powered S-Class, starting in the early 2020s.

In addition to major car shows being cancelled or postponed, the Osaka and Tokyo Motorcycle Shows have also been disrupted. That isn't stopping Honda from showing its wares, such as this Honda CB-F concept bike. The company decided to reveal it solely online, rather than at a show with people.

According to Honda, it's a tribute to the CB750F and CB900F motorcycles of the late 1970s and early 1980s. And the styling certainly reveals that. At a glance, the gas tank and bodywork look incredibly similar to those bikes, with boxy lines and and angular tail. But looking closer shows that the tank and bodywork blend together better, and the taillight has been shaped to fit the angle of the tail. The front mudguard is shortened and simplified, and there are no visible turn signals. It does still have dual horns visible on the front fork, though, and the paint scheme is a throwback with light metallic colors and accent stripes.

During last year's World Final of the FIA World Tour in Gran Turismo Sport in Monaco, Mazda announced it would become an official video game partner this year, the automaker's centenary. The Japanese automaker then teased a sketch of its RX-Vision GT3 Concept, a GT3-class racer based on RX-Vision Concept shown at 2015 Tokyo Motor Show, penned by global design boss Ikuo Maeda and headed for Gran Turismo Sport this year. Polyphony Digital has finished modeling the car and just debuted it on the game's official site. Now dubbed the Gr.3 Mazda RX-Vision GT3 Concept, the slinky crimson contender will soon become the second GT3-class Mazda in the game alongside the Atenza Gr.3. Polyphony says the race car will arrive on May 25 as part of an online update.  

Usurprisingly, the final product is toned down from last year's teaser sketch, yet the teaser was so wild that the in-game version retains plenty of extravagance. Drivers can see over the hood now, but the front splitter is even more extreme, the nose more chiseled and angry, fenders and hood drawn with new lines and more character, and a front-exit exhaust pokes out of an aero duct behind the front wheel. Revised struts hold the giant rear wing aloft, and a less outlandish diffuser sheds its tall endplates but still makes a menacing sight from the back.

Subaru held a technology briefing this week in Tokyo where it announced ambitious sustainability goals, but nearly lost amid the discussion of converting its fleet over to electricity was the unveiling of what appears to be an early concept version of a forthcoming battery-electric crossover. Thanks to the Japanese YouTube account LoveCars!TV!, we get a walkaround look. It appears to be Subaru's version of the crossover EV it is jointly developing with Toyota, to be built atop a flexible platform that can accommodate multiple production vehicles from both brands. What we're shown is an athletic-looking crossover with its wheels pushed to the corners that borrows design elements, for better or for worse, from Cadillac, the Pontiac Aztek and the Tesla Cybertruck. Up front, the crossover borrows and exaggerates Cadillac's signature squared-off corners and deep fog-light scoops that also reminds us of Infiniti's Q Inspiration concept from the 2018 Detroit auto show. It opts for narrow LED headlamps, and it notably omits any aesthetic concession to even a faux grille, save for a hexagonal shape outlined by the panel seams. Coupled with the black cladding on the lower bumper, the crossover's face has a certain Batman-logo shape to it. Moving around to the side, we see heavy black cladding — it doesn't appear to be standard plastic, since it reflects light — around the wheel wells, lending them a semi-octagonal shape that evokes the strongest comparison to the polarizing Cybertruck. Coupled with some interesting side creases, the cladding also gives the appearance that the wheel wells bulge out, and that the doors pinch inward, more than they probably do in reality. There are also no door handles or brakes, the side mirrors are rearview cameras and the windows are blacked out, so there's nothing to divine about the interior and how far along that is in conceptualization. In back is where things get especially weird and Aztek-like, with a blunt and upright rectangular body panel making up the tailgate underneath a generously long, sloping rear window. It's beveled at the top to tuck underneath the rear LED light bar, which stretches the length of the glass, and curved on each end to integrate with the sides. The LED treatment also dives down 90 degrees from the horizontal rear bar and then makes another sharp 90-degree jag to bracket the rear panel in hard-angled brake lights. All in all, we're left with a busy concept full of sharp angles but a not-altogether unsuccessful silhouette that overall seems like a work in progress. The idea behind the tie-up with Toyota is that Subaru will bring its expertise in designing all-wheel-drive systems, while Toyota will add powertrain know-how to the pot, with both parties obviously saving money in development costs. Subaru also confirmed at the briefing that every model it makes will get an electrified powertrain by the mid-2030s and that it aims to reduce the average emissions from new vehicles sold by 2050 by 90% compared to 2010 levels.