Kelly Nissan of Beverly News

Boston Globe Automotive Editor Clifford Atiyeh recently wrote about many upcoming vehicles to look out for in the coming months. Included in his list was the 2013 Nissan Altima, newly redesigned and as efficient as ever.

The 2013 Altima looks like a luxury vehicle, thanks in part to Nissan‘s collaboration with their luxury car division Infiniti, but the many of the great features of the top Nissan product have been carried over to the new model, but with added niceties that may make the 2013 Altima one of the best midsize vehicles on the road today, if not the best.

What can owners expect in terms of changes to the Altima?

Aside from it’s exterior revamp, the new Altima now sports a class-leading 38 MPG on the highway, to go with new “zero gravity” seats that are designed to relieve muscle fatigue and cramping. Nissan also added material to the interior cabin to keep exterior noise to a low minimum. Also added to the Altima is a larger LCD display in the instrument cluster and new optional safety features like “Moving Object Detection.”

All this adds up to what looks to be Nissan’s most innovative Altima yet.

“There is no argument – this is the biggest vehicle launch in the history of Nissan’s domestic operations,” said Nissan USA’s Vice President and General Manager Al Castignetti. “The Altima is our bread-and-butter vehicle. It will give us a good shot at being number one in its segment.”

Nissan slowly unveiled the redesigned Altima through a series of brief, albeit beautiful, shots of the new exterior on the Altima (see them here). Officially unveiled in the first week of April at the New York International Auto Show, the new vehicle has been well received thus far, and why not? The new Altima starts at $21,500 and is expected to go into production next month at Nissan’s manufacturing plant in Canton, Mississippi.

How well the new Nissan will do in today’s economy is completely up to consumers, but Atiyeh finished his piece on the new Altima saying, “I know one Camry owner who’s itching to trade when it arrives later this year.”

We’ll take a shot in the dark and say Clifford won’t be the only one trading in his Toyota Camry for the luxurious Altima.

Visit Kelly Nissan of Beverly today to check out the 2012 Nissan Altima, and be sure to ask about the all-new 2013 Nissan Altima!

From Business Insider – Automobile manufacturer Nissan has partnered with Habitat For Humanity in a fresh new campaign to help build a better future for communities affected by the downturn of the economy by launching an app to inspire hope for a better future.

Habitat For Humanity has been building affordable housing for struggling families for decades, and Nissan has been a Habitat sponsor for five years now, providing annual donations of $1 million to aid in building better communities where their customers and employees live.

The App is transparently called Charity Game, and serves interactive video. Users are able to enter commands for the volunteers to perform in the video immediately after that command is registered. Each time a command is entered, the user gets closer to being ranked in the top 100 scores. Those that reach the top 100 will get a personalized video from Nissan at the build site, and will feature volunteers pounding nails into the structure in the name of each winner, as well as a Nissan t-shirt. While the prizes may not motivate everyone to compete to win, the campaign overall is for a great cause.

Join in on the fun on Nissan and Habitat’s game page on Facebook.

Take a look at the Charity Game video below and be the judge for yourself.

Rarely do you see in the automotive world tricked out vehicles that are not meant to be tricked out.

It’s even rarer to see it work with an SUV recently introduced to the market.

We present to you the Nissan Juke-R. Only two of them exist in the world, but that’s more than enough for Car and Driver’s Sam Smith to get his hand on the Godzilla-inspired crossover in Dubai.

Perhaps it is Smith’s last line of his recent article of the Juke-R that rang most true: “It exists because it’s awesome, and that’s good enough for us.”

The Juke-R can go 0-60 in under 3.5 seconds, which is much quicker than Nissan’s mass-produced 2011 Juke that went 0-60 in just under 7.5 seconds. That can be credited to the Juke-R’s 485-hp twin-turbocharged engine.

On top of that, the engineers behind the Juke-R decided to put a rear spoiler on the back, and an FIA-compliant roll cage, typical of race car vehicles. Nissan says that the Juke-R’s suspension is street worthy, but not Smith, nor the sheiks inDubaiwho tried to buy the vehicles, can prove that with the Juke-R restricted to the race track.

Nissan’s Juke-R creation maxes out at 160 mph, only 31 mph lower than Nissan’s GT-R. We think that’s pretty good for an SUV—any SUV.

So with the birth of the Juke-R is born the idea of SUVs and sports cars coming together to co-exist as one.

Well, not really, but at least Nissan can say they’ve now brought something to the table no one else has. And that something is a monster drag-capable SUV.

From the Vancouver Courier - Exclusivity. It’s one of those things you can’t price on. Er, or rather, you can. Usually it’s ENORMOUS.

Designer purses, hand-tooled leather shoes, finely tailored suits; in the fashion world, being unique costs big. Same thing for cars… most of the time.

Now, if you run out and plonk down 60 or 70 grand on an E-Class Mercedes or 5-series BMW, it’s going to take all of five minutes before you find yourself parking at the mall next to somebody who bought the exact same car, except in a nicer trim level. So save your money. If you really want to stand out, buy a Nissan.

Specifically, this Nissan right here. It’s the Maxima, and it’s one of those cars that you’ll only find one or two of in stock at your local dealership, and few out on the roads. Nissan doesn’t build or sell a lot of them, although it maintains that it’s the flagship sedan for the brand.

The problem is two-fold. First, Nissan has at least two flagship cars already: for performance, the GT-R, and for green creds, the allelectric Leaf. The Maxima tends to get overshadowed by these well-publicized giants.

Second, cost. When launched in 2009, the redesigned Maxima SV had a price that lapped right up against the bottom pricing-rungs of the Infiniti G37 sedan. Add Infiniti’s often-aggressive lease rates into the mix, and the Maxima actually becomes more expensive than a comparably equipped G.

For 2012, Nissan has reduced the price of the Maxima somewhat. As tested, this SV Sport is now $40,230 before freight, and base models start at $37,880, down $1,920 since last year.

Still, that’s a lot of coin to spend on a Nissan. Is it worth it? I certainly think so, and here’s why.
Read the rest of the article after the jump.

From Car Advice’s Alborz Fallah - Nissan and Infiniti engineers are hard at work developing a range of sophisticated active safety technologies to take the lead in the constantly changing world of automotive safety.

Pioneering automobile safety technology is no easy task, with the likes of Volvo and Mercedes-Benz leading the charge, but Nissan (and particularly Infiniti) is determined to join them at the top of the game.

Prior to the Tokyo Motor Show, CarAdvice spent a day at Nissan’s GranDrive testing facility to experience the latest in Japanese active safety.

It’s important to know why pioneering vehicle safety is important, because most of the features we experienced are a long way from being made mandatory by governments around the world. This means the huge amounts of money being poured into researching and developing vehicle safety technology by key vehicle manufacturers is done so primarily for the benefit of its customers. (There’s no denying that it helps sell cars, but technology is getting so advanced that most buyers wouldn’t have a clue what safety features are hiding beneath the skin.)

Nissan’s ‘Vision2015′ is the company’s goal to halve the number of fatal or serious injuries that occur in its vehicles compared with 1995. In Japan and Europe this figure has already been achieved, so the ultimate goal has changed to reducing the number to zero. In order to do that, it’s not enough to just design more rigid and structurally safer cars with an ever-increasing number of airbags. The best way to eliminate injury or death is to prevent an accident in the first place.

Some of the active safety technologies that we’ve become familiar with in European cars will be introduced to the Nissan and Infiniti ranges in the near future:

Lane departure warning and prevention – using a rear-mounted camera, the vehicle can detect when it’s leaving its lane without indicating. It will audibly and visually warn the driver and help pull the vehicle back in to its line. This is helpful if the driver is distracted and the vehicle leaves its lane unexpectedly.

Distance control assist – helps keep a safe distance from the vehicle in front, great for smart cruise control that can flow with traffic without driver input.

Forward collision warning – similar to Volvo’s City Safety, the system can detect a potential collision and give early warnings to increase the likelihood of preventing an accident altogether.

Blind spot warning and intervention – using the same rear camera as lane departure warning, the system can detect a vehicle in its blind spot and provide a visual warning at first and intervene to prevent you merging into another vehicle.

Around view monitor (bird’s eye view) – giving the driver a clear bird’s eye view of what’s around the car, great for parking or reversing out of the garage.

Moving object detection – pedestrian and vehicle detection technology.

Despite our familiarity with the above, there were two technologies that we were genuinely and positively surprised with. The first of which was Acceleration Suppression for Pedal Misapplication (ASPM), which is another way of saying accidentally stepping on the accelerator instead of the brake pedal. This is a common issue in car parks worldwide and accounts for 10,000 injuries or fatalities per year in Japan alone.

To demonstrate, we were put behind the wheel of an Infiniti vehicle positioned about five or so metres away from a wall. The instructions were to flatten the accelerator, heading directly for the wall – not something we’re accustomed to doing but we put our faith in technology and stepped on it. Thankfully the technology kicked in and our command was ignored.

The car’s onboard computers can work out the difference between a mistaken or legitimate application of the accelerator pedal. So if you’re a few metres away from a wall, a car or a person and all of a sudden you panic and go for the accelerator instead of the brake, it will ignore your command. Better still, even if you happen to roll towards the object anyway, it will apply the brake.

Pedal misapplication happens a lot more frequently than you’d think, so it’s definitely going to be one of the technologies on the wish list.

The other noteworthy technology was Predictive Forward Collision Warning (PFCW), which uses radar to detect a reduction in speed of the vehicle that is two cars ahead. It sounds strange, but it’s true and it works.

Read the rest of this mind-blowing article after the jump.

If you liked this article, check out what Volkswagen has in store for the future – much like Nissan – here.

At Kelly Nissan of Beverly, we’re all about making this holiday season the best you’ve ever had.

So, stop in now to our Kelly Nissan dealership (located at 420 Cabot St. Rt 1A, Beverly, MA 01915) and make your best deal on any new or pre-owned vehicle and upon delivery, we’ll help you and yours with the trimmings this holiday season.

It’s that simple! The holidays are a time of shopping, snow and lots of fun. Why worry about the groceries? Let us at Kelly Nissan of Beverly take care of the small stuff, while you focus on the fun stuff!

Visit the Beverly Shaw’s supermarket to see our beautiful display as soon as you enter to the left, with a brand new 2012 Nissan Maxima and our holiday cheer ribbon. The picture, left, doesn’t do it justice.

Stop in, pick up a new Nissan from Kelly Nissan of Beverly and get a free $300 gift card from Shaw’s. Sounds like a win-win situation. How’s that for “Making it Easy” this holiday season!

This deal won’t last long though, just like the holidays. Hurry into our Kelly Nissan of Beverly dealership today to take advantage of this great deal!

Shaw’s Supermarket located on Dodge St. in Beverly

From Inautonews - Nissan aims to reach 10 percent market share in the United States over the next three years by focusing on larger volumes of fewer models, CEO Carlos Ghosn announced.

According to Ghosn, “the most important element is having enough cars with big volumes, not multiplying the number of products that we have.”

“We need a limited number of cars with very big volumes to sustain the brand,” Ghosn told Automotive News last week. Ghosn also said the Nissan lineup needs readjusting, as a lot of cars with small volumes doesn’t work”. “I want cars with big volumes,” he added.

In October, the only Nissan product reaching the top 10 for vehicle sales by nameplate in the U.S. was the Altima, while 19 of the 23 Nissan and Infiniti models had sales below 50,000 units. Nissan aims to achieve a 10 percent share in the U.S. market, estimated to reach 14 million units by mid-2012.

In order to meet the ambitious goal, Nissan needs to sell 54 percent more cars in the U.S. than last year’s 908,570 units sold under its own brand and the luxury brand Infiniti. Over the last two years, Nissan increased its market share from 6.6 percent in 2009 to 7.4 percent in 2010. During the first 10 months of 2011, Nissan’s sales increased by 15 percent, to 856,425 units, placing the Japanese manufacturer in the fourth place among automakers with the highest percentage increase.

From the Edmonton Journal – The Nissan Pathfinder appears to be enjoying a resurgence with Canadian consumers even though the rugged SUV hasn’t undergone significant changes for the 2011 model year.

The Pathfinder comes in three available trims, starting with the base S model, which has a starting price of $37,948. The top model is the SV that starts at $47,748.

Standard features on the Pathfinder LE tester include 18-inch machinedfinish aluminum-alloy wheels, Bose audio system, XM Satellite Radio, Bluetooth hands-free phone system, Nissan Intelligent Key keyless entry and ignition system, leather seats, heated steering wheel, power sliding glass moonroof, fold-flat second-and third-row seats, power windows and door locks, fog lights, rear-view monitor and heated front seats.

seats. The seven-seat Pathfinder is likely to have its fair share of kids in it, so the $2,000 DVD entertainment system is a welcome addition. And to take the family on a road without getting lost, the tester came with the $2,800 navigation system. When you add in the extra $135 for the metallic paint, the final pre-tax price hits $52,683.

The good-looking sport ute is a utilitarian vehicle by design, with room for cargo and towing capability. The Pathfinder gets its power from a beefy 4.0-litre V-6 that delivers 266 horsepower and 288 foot-pounds of torque.

The engine is mated to a relatively smooth – this is a truck, after all – five-speed automatic transmission And being a capable off-road vehicle, the Pathfinder comes with an All-Mode 4WD system.

2012 Nissan Versa Sedan

From The Auto Channel – Nissan has launched the all new 2012 model of its best selling Versa family sedan that represents more than just a good value. This is a real car, a true family sedan not one of those little boxes on wheels that pass for a car, much less a sedan that can hold four adults.

This is an all new and improved Versa that will, I predict, again set the standards in a category where competition is very strong. It has a good looking design, the biggest-roomiest interior, a larger trunk area, a redefined and smooth automatic (CVT) transmission coupled with a new 1.6 liter engine for better efficiency along with vastly improved gas mileage and the price?

The new Versa sedan starts at just $10,990! And that’s more than just a low price, that’s an exceptional value.

During the recent road test ride and drive in Seattle, Washington, my drive partner and I were able to do a lot of interesting driving on one of the nicest, sunny days of the summer. From downtown I drove through the older residential areas with narrow roads, lots of traffic, nice views, frequent stops and the summer time favorite, orange barrels. The Versa was response, easy to drive and very comfortable with minimal body sway on the twisty hillside roads.

Hitting the freeways to gander at the Microsoft campus that Bill Gates built, the Versa was not the most powerful or fastest car on the road, but kept pace with the traffic, was quiet even on some not-so-nice road surfaces, steering and handling was responsive when passing another car or changing lanes. One abrupt stop on an access road was good and certainly effortless and smooth so the brakes are good too.

I’m an about 5’10” and was very comfortable in the driver’s seat, which has a nice feature of being height adjustable as well as the usual movement. Lots of good visibility front, back and to the sides. My colleague who is about 6’4” said, when he was behind the wheel, “I’ve got more than enough room and am comfortable.” He opted not to try the rear seat, but I did and found it adequate and acceptable which is more than I’ve said about cars costing four to eight times what the Versa costs. The usual knobs, dials and buttons along with the standard instruments were clear and easy-to-read and reach. Ergonomically efficient and effective.

At 30 mpg city and 38 mpg highway for a combined 33 mpg rating the Versa is not the best, but is near the top in fuel economy ratings among its competitors. Three versions of the Versa are available the S, SV and SL. The S is plain-Jane-manual shift and with hand crank windows but does include mainstream driving features like a/c, trip computer and 15-inch wheels. Moving up to the SV – probably the most popular model — adds more features and amenities and price is $14,560. There’s a top of the line SL version which is still a fine value at grand more. Lots of optional accessories can be added.

Thinking family sedan with lots of rooms and creature feature comforts combined with a techno enhanced vehicle? Say hello to a good buy at Nissan dealer near you.

2011 Nissan Armada is America's Best-Loved Large Crossover/SUV

The large crossover/SUV field in the automotive business gets more and more competitive  everyday.

So for a vehicle to rank above all the rest is really quite impressive, and the vehicle at the top of the mountain for 2011 is none other than the 2011 Nissan Armada.

The Armada beat out the Chevrolet Tahoe and the Ford Expedition in the large crossover/SUV class in J.D. Power and Associates’ latest poll. The poll was aiming to figure out how new American car owners felt about their purchases. Results were overwhelming, with the group getting better than expected results from those polled.

“Every new model is scored on a 1,000 point scale and this year’s average score of 781 is higher than any time since the survey was first done in 1996,” says CNN Money, the website the poll is posted on.

J.D. Power and Associates’ survey, known as the APEAL survey which by their definition, stands for Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout, showed that people love the Armada above the rest when it comes to SUVs.

One thing important to note is that, all three top-ranked vehicles in this category are SUVs with classic truck-based engineering, not car-based crossovers.

The Nissan Armada is available at our Kelly Nissan of Beverly and Kelly Nissan of Lynnfield locations today! The people have spoken. They love the Armada, and you are sure to as well!