CEO Carlos Ghosn has set a lofty goal for Nissan: capture 10% of the total American car market in the next 4 years.

Right now in the first five months, Nissan and Infiniti have sold 8.2% of all cars in America, or about 433,032 vehicles. Nissan aims to sell over 1 million vehicles in the US by the end of this year.

The sales target comes as part of Nissan’s six-year global plan to increase sales, with volume cars such as the new Versa. Ghosn didn’t mention specifics other than some impressive numbers and a deadline, but hey, that’s how Kennedy got us to the moon.

[Source: Left Lane News]

A new drifting record was set last weekend by Mauro Calo totaling 7,572 feet  in a Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG around a skidpad. 2010 Formula Drift champion Vaughn Gittin Jr. said that after watching the C63 circle the concrete pad for more than two minutes, he was unimpressed.

“There are about 60 drivers that show up to Formula Drift every month, as well as thousands of grassroots drifters, that can do giant donuts until the tires pop, as well.” Gittin held the original record of 6,285 feet set in December 2008. Now we come the the question of what is a “world record” drift? Guinness World Records defines drifting as, ”driving a car with rear slip angle that is greater to the front.” However Gittin would call that a donut.

Gittin has suggested that Guinness World Records rephrase the definition of drifting to put credibility back in to attempt. Gittin believes the definition should be ”drifting without intersecting your drift line.” Gittin feels ”This result would be a record that took a lot of skill, balls, and wouldn’t put you to sleep watching the video of it.” He’s got a good point.

Check out Mauro Calo’s record setting drift after the jump!

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Ford‘s meteoric rise may have hit a speedbump with the latest J.D. Power Initial Quality results showing the Blue Oval at its worst ranking in a decade, coming in at 23rd. Meanwhile, perrenial quality champion Toyota rebounded from 21st last year to 7th this year, after an annus horriblus of recalls, lawsuits and quality defects that saw millions of vehicles recalled.

Toyota’s Lexus brand captured the top spot, up from 4th, followed by Honda, Acura, Mercedes-Benz and Mazda. Porsche, last year’s leader, finished 6th. Ford was said to be dinged due to transmission issues, as well as consumer dissatisfaction with both the SYNC and MyFordTouch/MyLincolnTouch infotainment systems, which were said to be glitch-prone and unintuitive.

While the J.D. Power survey is regarded as a gold standard among consumers, the survey only measures problems within the first 90 days of ownership, and does not take long-term reliability into account.

After having set a near-record time on the Nurburgring in the updated Corvette ZR1, Chevy has just released a second film documenting the improvements made to the Z06.

Driven once again by Corvette engineer Jim Mero, the 2012 Z06 equipped with the Z07 chassis package manages a 7:22.68 lap time an astonishing 20 seconds faster than the standing Z06 time. That time is two seconds faster than the updated 2012 Nissan GT-R, three seconds off the ZR1 (despite being down 133-hp) and just 4 seconds off the best time posted by the Porsche GT2 RS.  Chevy is particularly proud of the feat, especially when you consider the Z06 costs about a quarter of what you’d pay for the GT2 RS.

Watch the video after the jump. There are a few particularly scary moments at 6:40 and right at the finish:

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McLaren is setting its sight on Ferrari and Lamborghini, and is set to spend $1 billion to develop 13 new models and variants, according to a Bloomberg report.

The announcement comes as McLaren is preparing to launch 35 dealerships this year, and has already spent $320 million to develop their MP4-12C sports car. So far, 2,000 orders have been taken for the MP4-12C, and McLaren expects revenues of $1.6 billion within 5 years, but Chairman Ron Dennis is hoping to sell as much as 47 percent of the company to reduce the company’s debt.

[Source: Bloomberg]

As part of their partnership with Volvo, Legoland in California features a pair of Volvo Driving Schools (for different age ranges) that are meant to teach youngsters your basic driving skills and techniques. Of course each Lego-built vehicle at these driving schools resemble Volvos and are Volvo-branded, so it was only a matter of time until employees found a Volvo driver within their ranks to play a prank on.

After finding the perfect target, the employees setup their own General Manager of Legoland California, Peter Ronchetti. As he was leaving for lunch one day, he was treated to a surprise when he realized his Volvo XC60 had been replaced with a life-sized Lego Volvo XC90. The Lego-built Volvo XC90 is a very impressive creation, built from 201,076 Lego blocks and requires a forklift to move around weighing in at 2,934-lbs.

It’s a pretty clever and cute little prank to play on their General Manager. Here’s to hoping he returned the favor to his employees with Lego-built paychecks.

Check out the video after the break.

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In hot rodding circles, GM Performance Part’s E-ROD, a 1955 Chevrolet powered by modern 6.2-liter LS3 V-8 has been generating a lot of buzz.

Fresh off the Hot Rod Power Tour this year, the car, along with a second E-ROD; a 1955 Chevy pickup, built by Lingenfelter Performance Engineering and sporting a 5.3-liter E-ROD motor,will be on display at the GMPP stand as part of Barrett-Jackson’s Orange County collector-car auction this coming weekend.

The purpose of the display is to highlight the benefits of dropping a modern, 50-state certified low emissions V-8 into an older car. California’s ultra stringent emissions laws incorporate strict guidelines when it comes smog requires, even for ‘specially constructed’ vehicles such as modified collector cars or hot rods, which can sometimes make a minefield for hobbyists who want to build and modify their own special interest cars.

The E-ROD 6.2L V-8 attempts to take away much of that hassle , thanks to being granted an Executive Order (EO) number (D-126-30) from the California Air Resources Board (CARB). This makes the engine legal for installation in pre-OBD II (1996-and-earlier) vehicles in that state. In addition, depending on the driveline and suspension components added, it’s capable of delivering 23 miles per gallon under certain conditions.

Although most hot rods and classics are driven as pleasure vehicles, where gas mileage isn’t generally much of a concern; GM Performance Parts’  product integration manager, Dr. Jamie Meyer, said that, “with fuel prices not showing any signs of retreating, greater fuel economy is definitely a welcome benefit.” He’s got a valid point.

Both the ‘55 Chevy and the truck on display at Barrett-Jackson’s event this weekend, feature 4L65-E automatic transmissions, along with a GMPP Supermatic transmission controller, to enable the trans to work in conjunction with the E-ROD V-8′s engine control system. Combined with complete wiring harnesses available from GMPP, this essentially makes the E-ROD and automatic an essentially plug and play affair, even when installed in an older car.

While the 6.2 E-ROD is already CARB certified, the 5.3 version, featured in the Chevy truck, is still undergoing tests, though GM hopes to have a CARB EO number granted sometime this summer.

In addition, GM Performance Parts is also working with state legislators and CARB to allow the E-ROD engines and related hardware to be installed in newly built specialty vehicles, essentially cars and trucks that use brand new reproduction parts and late model chassis, have new VIN numbers, but maintain the appearance of a classic.

The Lingenfelter pickup is actually an example of this, riding on a late-model Trailblazer SS chassis, while sporting a Dynacorn reproduction 1955 Chevy truck cab and bodywork. For more information on the E-Rod engines and related components, click on the link below:

[Source: GM Performance Parts]

Turns out that Jackass star Ryan Dunn, who recently died in a car accident, was drunk at twice the legal limit for alcohol when he crashed.

The toxicology report confirmed Twitter’s worst suspicions: police say that Drunn’s blood alcohol content was at 0.196, or twice of Pennsylvania’s 0.08 limit. No other drugs were found in his system.

Dunn had left a bar called Barnaby’s of America with passenger Zachary D. Hartwell, who was also killed when Dunn’s Porsche 911 GT3 slammed into a guardrail at over 130mph. A bar employee said that Dunn “didn’t seem intoxicated” at the time, though as we all know—that is never the case.

Always call a cab, kids.

[Source: Left Lane News]

GM Daewoo has changed its name to GM Korea and its brand of choice to Chevrolet last March.  Since the name change, customers want to replace the old GM Daewoo emblem with the Chevrolet golden bow-tie.

Since March, 28,800 GM Daewoo owners have opted for the Chevy badge. It costs GM Daewoo owners somewhere between $139-$278 for the replacement. Since the change from GM Daewoo to GM Korea, the market share has also been affected. GM Korea stood at 6.7 percent in February and has climbed to 8.5 percent in March and 9.6 percent in April-May since adopting the Chevrolet brand.

Daewoo was once a beloved brand in Korea, and motorists are fiercely nationalistic, preferring their own domestic brands over foreign automakers. The switch to Chevrolet suggests a changing tide in the Korea marketplace, since customers are willing to abandon the Daewoo brand in favor of an American nameplate.

With the Vatican looking to expand their use of green technology, the next generation Popemobile is reportedly set to employ hybrid technology, although His Holiness would reportedly prefer a fully electric vehicle powered by solar panels.

The new Popemobile will be based off the next-generation Mercedes ML-Class, and used a hybrid system with a 10kw electric motor and a gasoline V6 engine good for a 60 horsepower boost. The same powertrain, fitted in an S-Class prototype, is good for 18.5 miles of purely electric driving, and considering the standard range and speeds of the Popemobile, it should be more than adequate for papal duties.

[Source: New York Times]