Jaguar Land Rover leads UK universities to develop virtual simulation tech

Jaguar Land Rover is to lead four UK universities in a £10m ($15.5m) government scheme to develop virtual simulation technologies and processes to help improve and accelerate the car design process. The carmaker will be leading project teams from the universities of Cambridge, Loughborough, Leeds and Warwick in the Program for Simulation Innovation (PSI), developed to improve the potential of the UK virtual simulation industry. It is hoped that through its results design quality and capability can be improved through the simulation of sights, sounds and smells.

Nissan electric car Leaf starts retailing next year in five markets

Just days after pulling the wraps off of its prototype Leaf electric vehicle in Japan, Nissan Motor Co. says it has committed to an early launch of 5,000 sales in the United States, starting late next year. The plan will require Nissan North America to begin retailing the Leaf at U.S.

Infiniti shows image of Q30 concept car before 2013 Frankfurt motor show reveal

Infiniti has just released photos of its highly anticipated Q30 Concept, which will be shown to the public at the 2013 Frankfurt motor show. Even though it may be hard to tell from the photos and sketches which size category this concept car belongs in, the Q30 moniker places this car in a rather compact segment. Designing the Q30, Infiniti says it has tried to blend the features of a coupe, a hatch, and a crossover.