There’s no such thing as a get rich quick scheme, and Nissan knows this, even as demand for their new Leaf electric car outstrips supply. Any new technology takes a significant amount of time to turn a profit, as development costs must be amortized. One can imagine how expensive a car with an $18,000 battery must have been to develop.

Brian Carolin, Nissan’s U.S. sales and marketing head told the Wall Street Journal that “Over the course of the vehicle life, it is profitable – in year three.” While three years is a not a small amount of time (most vehicles have a five year life cycle) the long road to profitability is an inevitable part of the road to making EV’s profitable, one that companies like Nissan will have to incur if electric cars wish to go mainstream.

[Source: Wall Street Journal]

Virginia International Raceway has long been a staple of road racing in North America, having been an unofficial home for Car and Driver’s vehicle testing for many years.

Ford recently wanted to show off the track prowess of the new and improved 2011 Mustang GT500, and where else but VIR is appropriate to let the public see what Ford’s baddest muscle car can do, and the end result was a lap that was nine seconds quicker than the outgoing model. There’s a wonderful V8 soundtrack, a nice example of how to steer a car around the track (keep those hands at 9 and 3, no shuffling the wheel) and lots of data for you track geeks.

Hit the jump to watch the GT500 in its natural environment.

[Source: Autoblog]

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The whole term of VIP has really progressed over the last few decades. When it comes to automotive, there’s an entire VIP trend that outfits cars with a low-to-the-ground ride height and wildly aggressive wheels that poke beyond the fenders. This style, extremely popular in Japan, normally sees outfitted black vehicles with dark tint and even embroidered shades to conceal what’s inside.

But hey, if you’re out in the Middle East, VIP isn’t low to the ground or with privacy. VIP in the Middle East is taking a Range Rover and giving it wings, without the Red Bull. Design Q, a firm based in England, has done quite possibly the most outlandish luxury embellishment to a vehicle to date.

Let’s start with the elevated roof that extends the rear-seat space in addition to allowing the ridiculously absurd step-through door. The interior has been thoroughly up-ended with larger reclining seats, a drink chiller, cigar humidor, mini-spa center and (we quote) “many other highly desirable features”. We’re not too sure how many of those features listed above are highly desirable in any vehicle, save maybe the drink chiller. The idea behind Design Q’s stretched Range Rover is to allow VIPs to feel the same comforts in their vehicle as they do in their private jet. We can hardly sympathize with those that aren’t content with a standard run-of-the-mill Range Rover.

At the end of the day though, who are we to judge? Our definition of VIP is to have a charging station and a nice WiFi signal wherever we go. Or hey, we’ll just take one of those new fancy, schmancy iPads in our car. That’s probably one of those “many other highly desirable features.”

[Source: Design Q]

GALLERY: Design Q Range Rover

When a standard Ferrari just isn’t enough, there’s always Ferrari’s Special Projects unit, a special section of the company dedicated to creating custom coachwork for very wealthy clients who work in tandem with Ferrari to ensure that their visions are aligned.

The new, Japanese-based car, known as the SP1 is going to be making its debut at the Concourso Italiano, an Italian car festival held at the Monterey Historics race weekend on August 13th. The SP1 is owned by Junichiro Hiramatsu, and features custom bodywork by Leonardo Fioravanti, a famed custom car builder. The SP1 was built under the auspices of Ferrari, and is fully sanctioned by the company. No mechanical details were supplied.

[Source: Luxury4Play]

In the last year, police in Australia’s Yarra Range have had to deal with a 10% increase in car theft. The Australian government has decided to place partial responsibility for this with its citizens, by imposing fines for unattended vehicles left unlocked. Starting today, motorists who do not lock their cars can face a fine of $358 AU.

According to Yarra Range Traffic Enforcement officer Sergeant John Morgan, ‘‘It puts our crime stats up, it wastes police man hours in investigating the crimes in the first instance and ultimately it will put up insurance premiums.”

The new laws affect all drivers, and include the provisions that if someone under 16 is left in a parked car, the keys must be removed from the ignition. Windows may be lowered up to 2 cm for ventilation, but if left down any more than that, the car will be considered “unsecured,” and subject to the fine.

Included in the bill is a $234 AU fine for littering cigarette butts on the streets of Melbourne. Local government officials cite cigarettes as the number one cause of litter in the city; over 11,000 butts are picked up off Melbourne streets every day.

[Source: TheAge]

In a truly heroic display of automotive badassery, Roger Green, a writer for England’s own Evo magazine, jumped from his burning Lotus Exige race car during the 24 Hour race at the Nurburgring, Germany’s famed race course affectionately known as “The Green Hell.”

If the inferno wasn’t enough, Green’s brakes also failed, forcing him to find a way to slow the car. He was able to do so, brining the car to a crawl near a barrier, at which point he lept from the vehicle and let the marshals handle the rest. If you’ve ever driven a car with a fixed bucket seat, a five-point racing harness and a quick release steering wheel, you’ll know that getting in and out while stationary is a task for Cirque De Soliel acrobats, and doing it while you’re high on adrenalin, rolling down a Nurburgring and on fire is no easy feat. Fortunately, Green walked away from the accident unharmed, and while he didn’t finish the race, his legendary bail will be enshrined in the hallowed halls of Youtube for all eternity.

Video after the jump

[Source: Autoblog]

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A report assembled by Deloitte Consulting has some interesting data about the auto industry as a whole, but a question about electric vehicles is causing some surprise. When asked what companies consumers were most willing to buy electric vehicles from, Ford, Honda and Toyota were the top 3 brands named, while automakers like Chevrolet, Nissan and Tesla, who have strong committments to electric vehicles, scored much lower.

The survey should send warning signals to a variety of automakers, especially smaller, EV-focused companies like Fisker. If the big players in the EV market can’t merit significant recognition, it might be time to re-think their marketing strategies, or perhaps forming an alliance with a more established automaker. The coming Chinese electric vehicles will only make things tougher as well.

[Source: Autoblog Green]

Anyone who grew up playing the Resident Evil games on Playstation knows that the best way to stop a zombie attack is with a large caliber firearm. For those who believe in non-violent resistance, Ford‘s new Fiesta commercial will show you away to make a clean getaway using features like the Fiesta’s keyless entry and push button starter. Jonathan, the ad’s protagonist, is able to escape a certain death at the hands of the undead, but his Yaris and Fit driving friends are not so lucky.

Rather than the typical “car porn” commercial favored by automakers, the Fiesta ad is shot in an informal, conversational style, almost like a Jackass stunt, but with much higher production values. Ford has already made huge strides with the Fiesta’s online social media campaign, with company executives claiming that 60% of the car buying public are aware of the vehicle already.

Hit the jump to see the ad for yourself.

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There’s no doubt that a nod from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) will affect a purchasing decision on your next family vehicle. So if you’re living large and luxurious, you’ll be pleased to hear that two large luxury cars earned the IIHS’s 2010 Top Safety Pick awards.

The Hyundai Genesis and the Mercedes E-Class were picked for this prestigious honor. Only vehicles that earn a top rating of good for front, side, rollover, and rear crash protection, and that have electronic stability control can be considered, and both of these cars made the grade.

Hyundai launched Genesis in the 2009 model year, however, it made changes to the roof structure to improve protection in rollover crashes for its 2010 model (the Top Safety Pick award applies to Genesis models built after January 2010).

Even though the Mercedes E class has been around for decades, this is the first time the model that has driven away with IIHS’s top rating. Redesigned for the 2010 model year, changes were made to the padding in the front and rear doors to improve protection in side impact crashes (the Top Safety Pick award applies to E Class models built after March 2010).

[Source: Insurance Institute for Highway Safey]

See AutoGuide’s reviews of these cars after the jump:

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In a perfect example of a good concept with poor execution, this brand new Chevy Camaro sports a retro-style 1969 Camaro SS front end. Sure the idea behind it is interesting, giving the Camaro more of a traditional, old school hot-rod look to the new-style body. But let’s face it; modern car design lines often just don’t mesh with the classics that inspired them.

The whole project reminds us of when in the late ’90s the import world got scarily overwhelmed with body kits that incorporated different headlights or even taillights to the fold. Civics with Acura CL headlights, or entire Integra front ends; some sporting Supra taillights and headlights. The variations were so random in combining body components from other cars that we all breathed a sigh of relief when the fad ended.

But now it’s just a pure oddity to see this showing up with traditional domestic tuners and hot-rodders, taking the perfectly fine looking new generation Camaro and squeezing on a completely disproportional front end that from a classic ’69 Camaro SS.

The car in question was spotted at the recent Carlisle Performance & Sound show, which is mostly full of domestics and hot rods. The whole project is sort of an interesting idea to us, paying homage to a real classic, but if another company is going to step up to the plate to offer another retro-style kit, they better execute with better flowing lines and elongate the front end a bit more. Post your thoughts in the comments!

[Source: CarDomain Blog]

GALLERY: Retro-Style New Camaro