Though hugely popular in Japan and Europe, the Nissan Micra hatchback is deemed too small to be appealing to American buyers. However, our neighbors to the north in Canada not only buy them, but race them as well. Now there’s a limited edition model inspired by the Micra’s racing series.

The Nissan Micra (or March, as it’s called in Japan) comes with a 1.6-liter 109-horsepower inline-four and a 5-speed manual in base trim. Ringing in at only $9,998 Canadian, or $7,070 USD, it slots in significantly below the most inexpensive new car in the US, currently the $11,990 Versa sedan, also by Nissan.

To get Canadian owners interested in motorsports, Nissan Canada even has a one-make racing series called the Micra Cup. The series features eight two-weekend races of 30 minutes each. Only Micras are allowed, and each is gutted, fitted instead with roll cages and racing seats and harnesses, and equipped equally with improved suspensions, brakes and exhausts. The engine stays the same, allowing drivers to engage in a battle of true skill.

Due to the success of last year’s inaugural series, and its expansion from Quebec to Ontario this year, Nissan is offering a limited number — 250, to be exact — of street-legal Micra Cup cars inspired by the racers. Each will come with 15-inch alloys, a numbered plaque signed by 2015 champ Olivier Bedard, an exterior graphic scheme inspired by the cup cars (which were in turn inspired by the BRE Datsun 510 and 240Z race cars of the 1970s). Pricing for the Micra Cup Limited Edition has yet to be announced, and unfortunately, both the race series and Micra sales will remain north of the border.

A group of Chinese investors named Consolidated Ideal TeamVenture has purchased the remains of Gumpert, a German boutique car maker that filed for bankruptcy in 2012.

Gumpert is still run by Roland Gumpert, the former Audi engineer who founded it in 2004, but its new owners have renamed the company Apollo. Some might associate the moniker with a NASA program or with a Malaise-era Buick, but in this context it likely refers to the only model Gumpert has ever manufactured.

The Apollo project is scheduled to lift off in March at the Geneva Auto Show when Consolidated Ideal TeamVenture unveils a brand new model. The dark teaser image published by the company reveals little, so it’s too early to tell if the car will be an evolution of the aforementioned Apollo, an updated version of one of Gumpert’s earlier concepts, or a brand new model.

Interestingly, Consolidated Ideal TeamVenture paid $1.8 million for the remains of Italy’s De Tomaso last May, and the investors announced vague plans to use the name on cars built in China. How that ties in to the purchase of Gumpert is anyone’s guess at this point. We’ll know more about what the future has in store for both brands when the Geneva show opens its doors on March 1st.

A Polish boutique car maker named Arrinera has introduced a track-only version of the Hussarya, its very first car.

Designed to compete in FIA-sanctioned events worldwide, the Hussarya GT stands out from the street-legal model on which it’s based thanks to add-ons such a new bumper with a splitter, deeper side skirts, a huge wing out back, and a massive air diffuser. The body kit makes the GT markedly more aerodynamic than the regular Hussarya.

While the street-legal Hussarya is powered by a naturally-aspirated 8.2-liter V8 engine that delivers over 800 horsepower, the company has fitted the track version with a 6.2-liter V8 engine borrowed from the General Motors parts bin. It can be tuned to deliver anywhere between 414 and 641 horsepower, though the only gearbox available is a six-speed sequential unit controlled using shift paddles.

The GT tips the scale at 2,755 pounds because it’s built largely out of carbon fiber, and because the cabin has been stripped of all non-essential components. Performance figures haven’t been published, but it’s fast enough to require six-piston calipers on both axles.

Arrinera will only build a few examples of the Hussarya GT. The company hasn’t revealed when the coupe will go on sale and how much it will cost.

Reports say that top Volvo brass have pledged to make all their cars zero fatality vehicles by the year 2020.

According to CNN Money, Volvo execs say that “by 2020, no one will be killed or seriously injured in a new Volvo.” Though the article does not provide a direct quote, the bold claim is repeated several times throughout and in a CNN-produced video. There is one quote form Volvo North America CEO Lex Kerssemakers, who says “[Swedish engineers] don’t say things when they don’t believe in it,” presumably in reference to the death-proof cars.

The promise builds on several technologies, many of them already existing. The first pillar relies on making the vehicles as safe as possible in the event of a crash. This entails improving technologies such as airbags and energy-dissipating body structures.

The second pillar is the development of safety technologies such as adaptive cruise control, auto lane keeping, impending collision braking assistance, traffic sign reading, and pedestrian and large animal detection.

Lastly, the introduction of completely autonomous driving technology will allow cars to fully drive themselves. “With the development of full autonomy we are going to push the limits of automotive safety,” said Volvo’s Erik Coelingh, a safety engineer. “Because if you make a fully autonomous vehicle you have to think through everything that potentially can happen with a car.”

Of course, all of these technologies are already either in use or being developed by Volvo and many other automakers on the market. At the Detroit Auto Show, Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda said the a zero-crash car is a goal, but Volvo is the first to make such a no-death promise with a date.

The Volvo XC90 already received the best overall safety rating from the Euro NCAP, with a 100 percent for safety assist technology and a 97 percent in adult occupant protection. The XC90 is also one of nine models to have suffered zero fatalities in crashes from 2009-12. The others are the Honda Odyssey, Kia Sorrento 2WD, Lexus RX 350 AWD, Mercedes GL-Class 4WD, Audi A4 4WD, Toyota Highlander Hybrid 4WD, Toyota Sequoia 4WD, and the Subaru Legacy.

Nissan may introduce yet another crossover into America’s hottest segment. Reportedly, the Brazil-market Kicks is under serious consideration for US sales by Nissan North America’s top brass.

If it arrives, it is predicted to slot in under the funky Juke, with a slightly less powerful engine than its 188-horse direct-injection 1.6. Its starting price would be lower than the Juke’s $20,250 as well. It may even replace the Juke.

Speaking with Wards Auto, Nissan North America’s vice-president of product planning Michael Bunce said, “We see the opportunity for more mainstream [small] crossovers that are less niche, and we see Honda and others in that space and are taking it very seriously.” Bunce also said that Nissan is studying whether the Juke “remains in the [U.S.] market or not.”

With the Kicks, which was approved for production in Brazil last month, Nissan would go head to head against compact crossovers like the Honda HR-V, Jeep Renegade, Chevrolet Trax and Subaru XV Crosstrek.

Nissan has already filed a trademark application for the name Kicks with the US Patent and Trademark Office last October, though sometimes these filings are simply to reserve a name.

The Kicks will soon begin rolling off the assembly lines at Nissan’s Rio de Janeiro plant alongside the March (Micra in some markets) and Versa currently being produced there.

An amateur spy shot taken in Germany has given us an early look at the facelifted Rolls-Royce Wraith.

Staying true to tradition, Rolls-Royce will only make minor visual modifications to the Wraith. The spy shot suggests the updates will include new-look LED headlights inspired by the ones found on the Ghost Series II, re-styled bumpers on both ends, and an array of new alloy wheel designs. The cabin will receive an updated infotainment system, and buyers will be able to choose from a wider selection of wood veneers.

It’s too early to tell whether Rolls will make mechanical modifications. The current Wraith is powered by a twin-turbocharged 6.6-liter V12 engine that sends 624 horsepower and 590 lb-ft. of torque to the rear wheels via a satellite-aided eight-speed automatic transmission. It reaches 60 mph from a stop in a brisk 4.4 seconds.

The facelifted Rolls-Royce Wraith likely won’t be ready in time for the Geneva Auto Show that will open its doors in early March, but we wouldn’t be surprised to see the big coupe in the metal for the first time at this fall’s Paris show. Either way, it will land in showrooms as a 2017 model.

General Motors’ Germany-based Opel division has published an enigmatic teaser image that previews a new concept called GT.

Opel first used the GT name on a coupe that was launched in 1968 and briefly sold in the United States through Buick dealerships. The GT was axed in 1973, but the moniker was dusted off in 2007 for Opel’s version of the Saturn Sky.

The concept won’t share any styling cues with the topless model. Instead, it will be billed as a tribute to the original GT, and its design will be loosely inspired by the Experimental GT concept that the car maker presented at the 1965 edition of the Frankfurt Auto Show. The similarities between the two models will be vague at best, and the coupe won’t feature a full-on retro-styled look like the Volkswagen Beetle and the Fiat 500.

Opel will share more revealing information about the GT in the weeks leading up to the Geneva show. Stay tuned, we’ll be on location to bring you live images of the concept — and the rest of the action in Geneva — straight from the show floor starting on March 1st.

What’s next?
Opel says the GT is merely a design study, but German magazine Auto Bild believes it will spawn a regular-production model before the end of the decade. The production GT will allegedly ride on the same front-wheel drive platform as the new Astra hatchback that was introduced last summer, and it will be offered with three- and four-cylinder engines borrowed from the Opel parts bin. If the rumor is accurate, the next Opel GT could debut in 2018 to celebrate the original model’s 50th anniversary.

Cadillac is preparing to introduce a brand new V8 engine, a recent report finds.

The eight-cylinder has a displacement of 4.2 liters, and a pair of turbochargers help it generate a little less than 500 horsepower. It’s designed to work with an eight-speed automatic transmission, though whether it will be offered with rear-wheel drive, all-wheel drive, or both, is up in the air at this point.

Interestingly, the V8 doesn’t share any components with the supercharged 6.2-liter eight that powers the CTS-V and the Chevrolet Corvette Z06, and it’s not an evolution of General Motors’ small block engine.

Car & Driver believes Cadillac’s next V8 engine will make its debut in the not-too-distant future under the hood of the range-topping CT6 Platinum. It will also power a handful of other models, including the company’s upcoming flagship sedan, and there’s a decent chance it will be shared with other General Motors-owned companies. However, the magazine suggests that a track-ready, V-badged CT6 powered by a hot-rodded version of the new V8 is unlikely to happen.

Buyers who don’t need eight cylinders under the hood will have at least two other options to choose from. The base CT6 comes with a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder rated at 265 horsepower. Next up is a twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter V6 that makes 400 horsepower and 400 lb-ft. of torque, and a plug-in hybrid drivetrain made up of a 2.0-liter turbo four and a pair of electric motors will also be offered.

Photos by Brian Williams.

Another death blamed on Takata airbag inflators has reportedly prompted yet another recall expansion.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently received a complaint from a South Carolina attorney alleging that a Takata inflator exploded in a 2006 Ford Ranger and sent shrapnel into an driver’s neck.

“Metal from the inflator canister exploded penetrating my client’s neck resulting in death,” the complaint reads. “There is no doubt airbag shrap killed my client, as this has been confirmed by death certificate and autopsy report.”

The driver is said to have “hit a cow in the middle of the road,” causing the vehicle to leave the road into a field. The attorney claims the South Carolina Highway Patrol is still working to complete its investigation of the late-December accident.

The 2006 Ranger was already included in a Takata recall. A May 2015 campaign cited safety concerns with the Takata-sourced front passenger airbag. The driver airbag, which was blamed for the death, was not included in any recall campaigns when the death complaint was submitted.

The incident has been associated with a wider review of two inflator types, including the suspect inflator in the 2006 Ranger, according to a Reuters report. The expansion is expected to affect five million vehicles from several automakers.