#ShowCars

Heading to the 2012 Los Angeles Auto Show is the Nissan Hi-Cross Concept, a compact crossover we originally saw earlier this year at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show.

And with talk of adding a new edition to the Nissan lineup of crossovers in Europe, namely the Juke, Murano and Qashqai, that means a production version of the Hi-Cross will pick up where the boxy X-Trail left off.

Okay, so it’s a show car and despite the rendering above, the chances of  being able to drive something like it on the road, unless you perhaps live in the Middle East are on the far side of slim.

With the North American International Auto Show almost upon us, Chrysler has announced that it’ll be exhibiting Mopar enhanced examples of some of its mainstream offerings.

Meguiar’s is sending nine of the world’s top show cars from around the world to this year’s SEMA Show, holding its first ever Car Crazy International Vehicle Showcase. These nine cars along with their owners will be brought in from all over the globe and will be on display front and center right outside the Convention Hall, next to Meguiar’s Car Crazy TV Stage. All week long, both the vehicles and their owners will be a major attraction of this year’s SEMA Show.

Some of us might remember the beginning and end of the Pink Panther Show where our favorite animated feline exits and enters into a dramatic, low slung custom car. That machine, appropriately named the Panthermobile, was originally built by Hollywood custom car legend Jay Ohrberg in 1969 for the show, which aired on NBC in the US from then until 1976.

In an interesting debate of whether or not two negatives make a positive, Hot Import Nights and NOPI have combined forces for a seven show tour in 2010. While it’s hard to argue that both series have had huge success in the past, business decisions by both companies as separate entities were questionable at best in 2008 and 2009.

NOPI canceled their drag, drift and show series in the middle of the season in 2008 much to the dismay of its competitors and sponsors. Hot Import Nights, riding on yet another buyout in 2009, canceled the last few shows of their season, upsetting many of the competitors that had qualified for the season finale and were relying on the season-end payout to cover their traveling expenses in 2009. Either way, the decisions made by both entities when they were ending their respective seasons were abrupt and offered no consolation to their sponsors and competitors.

But if there’s anything we know about the sport compact industry it’s how quickly people tend to forget, especially those that weren’t affected. It will be interesting to see how the joining of these two forces will work out. On paper, there is a recipe for success if the joining of these two minds are on marketing and conducting a proper show series. On the other hand, certain sponsors and competitors must be hesitant to be signing back on board. Only time will tell how successful the HIN NOPI Super Show tour is.

See after the jump for a list of tour dates: