The 2022 Nissan Kicks is alive and kicking, and $100 more expensive than the refreshed model cost in 2021 for its three available trims. The value-driven crossover for younger buyers starts at $20,875 for the base S trim after the $1,175 destination charge. That gets goodies like a seven-inch infotainment touchscreen running Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, and driver assistance features like automatic emergency braking, blind spot warning, high-beam assist, lane departure warning, and rear automatic braking. The obvious tell of its bargain roots are the 16-inch steel wheels hiding behind wheel covers.

Stepping up to the Kicks SV runs $22,725 after destination. The SV upgrades to a seven-inch Advanced Drive Assist Display in the gauge cluster, an eight-inch infotainment touchscreen, and 17-inch alloy wheels, while adding more convenience features and tech like a center console armrest with storage, intelligent cruise control, and an electronic parking brake. Yes, the SV is nearly $1,900 more than the S, yet we maintain that the SV and SR provide so much extra stuff for so little money, you'd be a little nuts to go with the base car. Even if you did, though, you'd still find great value in the shockingly spacious cargo area, adult-friendly back seat, abundant standard safety content, excellent visibility and class-besting fuel economy.

New Subarus await shipment this month in Kawasaki, Japan. (Getty Images)

The Lexus LFA was, and still is, an extraordinary car that pushed the boundaries of automotive engineering in its time. As such, used LFAs have since become an appreciating asset as people began to recognize their value. Case in point is this gourgeous LFA Nurburgring Edition, which is currently listed for around 2.5 times its original MSRP.

Pricing information for the 2022 Toyota Supra is out. Still offered with four or six cylinders, the coupe is entering the 2022 model year with a handful of new features across the board, a new limited-edition model named A91-Carbon Fiber, and a cheaper range-topping model.

The big news for 2022 is the A91-Carbon Fiber (pictured), which was unveiled in June 2021. Limited to 600 units, it stands out with a carbon fiber body kit that includes a front splitter, rocker panels, and a duckbill spoiler on the trunk lid. It also features 19-inch wheels painted flat black and an edition-specific red and black interior with leather and Alcantara upholstery. It costs $64,305 including a mandatory $1,025 destination charge, a figure that makes it the most expensive member of the 2022 Supra line-up by a relatively large margin.

Manufacturers like Nissan and Subaru will have interesting things at the 2022 Toyota Auto Salon, but so will a cavalcade of aftermarket companies. A notable one is VeilSide, the Japanese tuning company founded and still run by Hironao Yokomaku and was probably made globally famous by the Fast & Furious franchise. But the operation has been around much longer and won its first show award at the 1991 Tokyo Auto Salon, a decade before The Fast and the Furious began teaching us about the importance of family. Carscoops reports that Yokomaku is working on a new Toyota Supra body kit for next month's salon, images of which prove that the CEO hasn't lost his obsession with everything over-the-top. 

For now, we only have shots of the unpainted work-in-progress, some of which we've pulled from a Japanese video that takes a tour inside the VeilSide warehouse workshop. The Supra is going to feature a front clip that is as angry as it is exaggerated, an elevated nosecone hovering over a large front lip spoiler with aero strakes standing at attention on the sides. The intakes contained within will be scooping up massive amounts of air. This flows back into a new hood with punched-up bulges and a large air extractor as well as wider fenders bearing serious arches. Side sills extend like a plinth and connect the front to the widebody rear end. The backside shows off the GR Supra's ducktail-like spoiler lined with exposed bolts presiding over an aggro, be-straked diffuser that could have come from a Gundam series. The package sits on a quartet of five-spoke VeilSide-branded wheels wrapped in low-pro rubber that just peek out from under the kit.

Daihatsu is heading to the 2022 Tokyo Auto Salon with a selection of modified cars. The event is known for its high-performance sports cars and extravagant luxury rides, so how does a company specializing in kei cars and compacts stand out? By headlining a kei camper with a folding rooftop tent. #Vanlife!

The Daihatsu Atrai Deck Camper started out as a kei delivery truck for Japan's narrow city streets. It's a notable vehicle for being the only kei truck that has four doors and a pickup-like bed in the back. Not only that, but the two rear doors are of the sliding variety, and the tailgate folds open 180 degrees.

Nissan is gradually expanding the list of parts it reproduces for older variants of the GT-R. It launched its Nismo Heritage program in 2017 with about 80 components, and it announced made-to-order titanium exhaust systems for three generations of the car this December.

Buyers in Japan have the option of ordering a full exhaust system including a front downpipe with an integrated catalytic converters, a midpipe with silencers and a muffler with a Nismo-branded tip. These parts blur the line between stock and aftermarket. On one hand, they're designed by Nissan as direct replacements for the factory-fitted exhaust components. On the other hand, they're manufactured with titanium so they're about 28 pounds lighter than stock, and design tweaks made to the center pipe and the muffler reduce pressure in the line by about 7%.

Mazda has unveiled the eighth-generation Carol kei car in Japan with a mild-hybrid powertrain. The Carol nameplate was introduced in 1962 for Mazda’s first city car which from 1980 to date has been produced by Suzuki as a rebadged version of the Alto. Since the new generation Alto debuted last month, it was Carol’s turn to receive an update.

I spend a lot of time walking the rows in big American car graveyards looking for interesting automotive stories to tell. In recent years I have been peering into every one of the thousands upon thousands of Toyota Camrys I see, looking for one thing: the gearshift lever of an exceedingly rare five-speed manual transmission. Even though Toyota USA offered a five-on-the-floor Camry from the very first '83s all the way through the 2012 model year, you see, the overlap between the "Americans who want a new Camry" group and the "Americans who are willing to drive a manual transmission" group became vanishingly small starting in the early 1990s. Last year, I managed to spot a manual-equipped 1997 Camry and, six months later, a 2000. After that, I remained stuck on the last year of the 20th century (which was 2000, not 1999) in my three-pedal Camry quest… until a few weeks ago in Northern California, when I ran across this battered 2001 CE in Vintage Pearl Red.

The Tokyo Auto Salon taking place January 14-16 will be the venue where Honda pulls the wraps off the new Civic Type R Prototype. Yes, we mean Prototype, not the final car. Unfortunately, we'll need to wait until later in 2022 to see the final product.

However, we suspect Honda will have a number of preliminary details to share about the new Type R that will be revealed with the Prototype. The car that we see on display in Tokyo will be wearing a special camouflage that Honda designed specifically for the new Type R. We suspect that'll be the same camo that's already been pictured in a number of official and unofficial spy shots. Even if it is, the ability to get up close and personal with the camo'd car will still provide far more insights into the new Type R's design than we've been treated to thus far.

This episode of the Autoblog Podcast features Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore and Senior Editor, Green, John Beltz Snyder. John is beck from a recent first drive of the 2022 Hyundai Ioniq 5, and has a 2022 Ford Bronco 4-Door Black Diamond in his driveway. Meanwhile, Greg just got out of a 2022 Ram 1500 TRX and back into Autoblog's long-term Acura TLX. After talking about the car's they've been driving, they dive into the news, including EV announcements from Toyota and Lexus, rumors of a turbo I6 Dodge Challenger, a list of future classics from Hagerty and a review of the sitcom American Auto.

Send us your questions for the Mailbag and Spend My Money at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Enjoy your holidays, and we'll see you in 2022.

Subaru is showing some fun stuff at Tokyo Auto Salon this year. The big news will be the concept it's teasing, shown above, which will apparently be electrified. It also will be showing some of its sporty models with new STI accessories, including the recently launched WRX.

The concept that Subaru has teased looks quite interesting, even if we can't see it clearly. The nose looks low, with a low and wide grille a bit like a BRZ, but clearly it's something unique and original. It has angular, angry headlights like on the WRX. We can make out some air extracting vents in the hood, too. Subaru also provided a name: the STI E-RA concept. The E is definitely a nod to the electrification. The RA is a letter designation seen on past Subarus, and most recently the letters stood for "record attempt" on special edition WRX STIs. So whatever it is, it's serious and probably quite fast.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A federal labor board is reviewing a decision by one of its regional officials to deny a union from trying to organize fewer than 100 of the thousands of employees at Nissan's auto assembly plant in Tennessee.

A 3-2 decision Tuesday by the National Labor Relations Board — now with a Democratic majority under President Joe Biden — ordered a review of the June ruling that prevented a vote limited to 87 tool and die technicians at Nissan's Smyrna plant, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) outside Nashville.

For this year's Tokyo Auto Salon, Nissan is bringing a variety of vehicles to show, but possibly the most impressive are these camper vans. They're based on the NV350 Caravan, and they're hiding some truly incredible-looking living quarters.

The all-around most impressive one is the Mountain Base concept, shown at top. It's hard to miss thanks to its faux wood trim all along the sides. Closer inspection reveals the parts that don't have wood-grain vinyl are coated in some sort of truck bedliner material. The front fascia has a sort of integrated grille and headlight guard. The roof is adorned with an off-road light bar and a gigantic solar panel that can be raised, angled and swiveled to get in the optimum position. The side windows have also been replaced in favor of more solar panels. Fender flares enclose a chunky off-road wheel and tire combination.