Nissan has announced the 2010 Nissan Cube, the third generation of their weird looking car launched in 1998. “The new Cube is designed for people who imagine a life less ordinary, who have grown tired of the never-ending pursuit of faster, more powerful, more outrageously styled cars,” said Yosuke Iwasa, Segment Chief Product Specialist. “The quieter, more harmonious qualities of the Cube have attracted interest not only among young people, but for those in every walk of life. While carrying forward the concept of the original Cube, this latest edition has advanced significantly, including offering far greater comfort.”

As you can probably imagine, power and aerodynamics are not these car’s main attractions, the Cube being offered with a 1.5-liter HR15DE engine, e-4WD system featuring standard XTRONIC CVT with Adaptive Shift Control (ASC) which Nissan claims offers an improved fuel economy. The interior however, is very versatile and funky, with an open cabin, conceived with the image of a Jacuzzi, curve-shaped instrument panel, “Fine Vision” instrumentation, “skylight”-style glass panel roof with shoji-style shade to diffuse sunlight and “water drop” ripple design motif in cupholders and other cabin details.

The new Nissan Cube will go on sale in Japan on November 26 (prices ranging between $15,000 and $20,000), in the spring of 2009 the United States will get it, while European customers will be able to place their orders starting with fall 2009. Check out more photo after the jump. Read More: "2010 Nissan Cube unveiled"

Yesterday, the final results for the Japanese Car of the Year were announced and, surprisingly or not, the Toyota iQ is the big winner. The mini car from Toyota managed to take home the award after polling more then 300 than the second place, who went to the Citroen C5. The Nissan GT-R joined them on the podium, taking the third place. For this competition, 65 jurors had 25 votes to give to five vehicles, each juror giving 10 votes to his/her top-rated car before giving the remaining 15 votes to the next four vehicles. The iQ managed to get 10 points from 39 of the jurors. Other awards that were given were for Most Advanced Technology, which went to the GT-R, for Most Fun car (Subaru Exiga) and Best Value (Honda Freed). And here’s the top 10 (the last two were considered a tie) cars nominated and the points they scored.

1. Toyota iQ - 526 points
2. Citroen C5 - 223 points
3. Nissan GT-R - 201 points
4. Audi A4/A4 Avant - 180 points
5. Jaguar XF - 115 points
6. Daihatsu tanto - 100 points
7. Fiat 500 - 90 points
8. Honda Freed - 62 points
9. Mazda Atenza - 60 points
10. The Suzuki Wagon R / Wagon R STINGRAY - 37 points
11. Subaru Exiga - 31 points

Read More: "Toyota iQ wins Japanese Car of the Year award"

GM Asia-Pacific announced that, in celebration of GM’s 100th Anniversary, a special edition of the Corvette will be available in Japan. With only 30 units (15 black and 15 white) available, the Corvette S-Limited features two-tone leather interior, rear lip spoiler, perforated inner exhaust tips and mesh wire screen for front bumper grilles and rear bumper. The price for the Corvette S-Limited is ¥7,980,000 (around $75,000) and, probably to make sure everyone knows where the car is coming from, the car will go on sale on the 4th of July.

More photos after the jump.
Read More: "Corvette S-Limited edition for Japan"

Halleluyah! If this works, hope we’ll get to see this action taking place in more countries. With Japan having one of the fastest aging populations in the developed world, the Japanese police will try to stimulate elderly drivers to give up their driving licences and stop driving. And don’t think they’re doing it because they have something against old people, but because drivers over 70 are responsable for 35% of accidents happening in Japan.

And the Japanese police are not doing this only by asking them to quit driving, but by also having around 30 partner companies which entice old people with discounts and cash incentives. For example, they get free home deliveries from a department store chain, restaurant discounts at Tokyo’s Imperial Hotel, reduced interest rates at a local bank and Domino’s Pizza is even giving them a 10 percent discount for its menu prices.

Now we don’t have anything against old people, it’s just that there comes a time in life when all you need to do is rest and relax and not drive around irritating and endagering other drivers. Because anyone who ever met on the road an elderly driver knows that they’re slow and they’re not paying very much attention to the road. Good job, Japan!

Read More: "Japan to elderly drivers: Quit driving!"

Toyota announced today that the redesigned Toyota Crown, Royal Saloon and Athlete versions, will go on sale in Japan today and they’ve also announced the new Crown Hybrid, which will be launched on May 9.

The Crown Royal Saloon and the Crown Athlete will be available with V6 3.0 liter and V6 2.5 liter engine, mated to a 6 Super ECT (Super Intelligent Electronically-controlled, Six-speed Automatic Transmission) and DRAMS (Driving Response and Acceleration Management System). All engines feature Dual VVT-i (Dual Variable Valve Timing Intelligent) to optimize intake and exhaust valve timing according to driving conditions.

The Toyota Crown Hybrid features rear-wheel drive THS II (Toyota Hybrid System II) with a two-stage motor speed reduction which “provides the driving performance of a 4.5-liter vehicle with the low fuel consumption of a 2.0-liter vehicle”. The propulsion system features a combination of a 3.5-liter V6 gasoline engine with a high-performance electric motor. Also, by pressing a button, the vehicle will only use the electric engine.

Toyota hopes to sell monthly 5,500 units, including 800 hybrid cars. Click ‘read more’ to see more details on the Toyota Crown in the full press release and to check out more photos of the car.

Read More: "Redesigned Toyota Crown plus hybrid version launched in Japan"

Yesterday, Mazda made a press release in which announced that the 100,000th Mazda2 (called Mazda Demio, for the Japanese market), with only 8 month passed since the car debuted, in May 2007. Mazda’s competitor in the small car class did a really good job and the 31 international awards prove that. Last year was also a very good one for Mazda in Europe, the Japanese producer managing to sell 311,247 units here, its highest volume since 1991. This is also due to Mazda2’s success, 12,591 units being sold in just four months.

Read the full press release after the jump.

Read More: "100,000 Mazda2 sold in only 8 months"

The new Mazda Axela (or the Mazda 3 as we know it) was launched for the Japanese market. Most notable updates include chrome door handles, new roof spoiler and new alloy-wheel options. Also, Mazda worked on the interior, which has a higher quality and features piano black parts on the center panel and the power window switches, chrome parts for some levers and buttons and, by using sound absorbent materials Mazda managed to reduce the cabin noise.

Check out more photos after the jump.
Read More: "Updated Mazda Axela debuts in Japan"

Nissan launched the Dualis, their latest midsize crossover, in Japan. Known in Europe as Qashqai, the Dualis will be available with a DOHC 2.0-liter inline-4 engine that delivers 140 hp and with prices from $16,080 to $19,970.

Nissan hopes to sell about 24,000 Dualis crossovers in Japan (which is a small number, considering their target for Europe of 106,000 vehicles). The midsize crossover, which will be built in Europe and shipoped to Japan, will be launched in other markets, including Australia and South Africa, in the future. Read More: "Nissan Dualis Launched in Japan"