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Nissan GT-R Nismo confirmed as Nissan opens new Nismo HQ

Nissan has opened a new Nismo HQ in Yokohama and confirmed that there will be a Nissan GT-R Nismo flagship performance car built. So far, we’ve had the Nissan Juke Nismo arrive and the Nissan 370Z Nismo turned up recently too as a production model for the UK and Europe – and we’ve even had a concept of a LEAF Nismo – so we know Nissan are serious about offering Nismo versions even on their least sporty models. But the one car that really doesn’t need a Nismo version is the GT-R, yet to have a range of performance cars under the Nismo banner without having the mighty GT-R at the top of that range would seem odd.

Jaguar XJ 4WD tackles the coldest town on earth (video)

Jaguar XJ 4WD (pictured) tackles the coldest town on earth If you’ve ever driven a Jaguar XJ in any amount of snow, you’ll know it’s pretty useless. You need a handy supply of snow socks and winter tyres too if you’re going to make any length of journey in seriously cold and snowy conditions without stopping to dig yourself out at regular intervals. But Jaguar now has an XJ that can tackle poor and snowy conditions in the AWD XJ (although, sadly, it’s not on sale in the UK) so they’ve headed out on a 2,000 mile round trip in temperatures down to -50 degrees to show that the 4WD XJ just keeps on going.

VW eyes stake in Suzuki, report says

Volkswagen looks to stake an ownership stake in Suzuki Motor Co. by the end of this year, according to a report in Automobilwoche, a sister publication of AutoWeek. "We expect that there will be a basic agreement this year," the German-language publication quoted an unnamed Suzuki executive as saying.