Off-road-oriented trucks are the hot trend right now, and automakers are moving beyond special off-road models to selling parts to upgrade existing trucks and SUVs. Ford has rolled out multiple products for the Ranger pickup, and now Nissan is aiming to match them. And it all starts with a new range of parts for the Nissan Frontier.

These parts make their debut on a 2020 Nissan Frontier participating in the Rebelle Rally – a race for women focusing on off-road driving and navigation ability – and will be available later this year. The most immediately noticeable of these parts is the steel off-road bumper. It weighs 106 pounds and features mounting points and holes for lights, shackles and a winch. Mounted to that bumper are a set of lights developed with Rigid Industries. The first lights available will be these round, 6-inch LED units, but other sizes, shapes and illumination patterns will come later. All lights will come with a switch, harness and covers. Capping off the visual upgrades are the 17-inch Nismo off-road wheels.

The Nissan Cube sold very well in its Japanese homeland, but struggled to find many North American buyers during its 2009-2014 sales run over here. As was the case with its boxy Scion xB competitor, the target demographic of youthful Americans looking for a "mobile hub" (Nissan's term) seemed unimpressed with the Cube, and plenty of Cube haters saw its asymmetrical design as the visual equivalent of fingernails-on-the-chalkboard. Here's a 2010 Cube in a Denver self-service yard with the exceedingly rare six-speed manual transmission.

Nissan has officially started U.S. production of the all-new 2021 Rogue at its plant in Smyrna, Tennessee.

The reveal of the Nissan Z Proto is easily the most significant event for Nissan this year, but another of its long-running nameplates is reaching a big milestone, too. The Nissan Maxima full-size flagship sedan is turning 40 years old. To celebrate, there's a 2021 Nissan Maxima 40th Anniversary Edition, complete with all the bells and whistles and some unique trimmings.

On the outside, the special edition Maxima gets an exclusive two-tone gray and black paint job. The 19-inch wheels as well as all the trim and badges are finished in black, too. Even the exhaust tips are painted back.

In this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Editor, Green, John Beltz Snyder and News Editor Joel Stocksdale. In the news this week, Ford has teased some sort of high-performance Bronco, Nissan unveiled the Z Proto, Hyundai revealed the next-gen Tucson and GMC teased the Hummer EV's "Crab Mode." Our editors break that all down for you, and share some insights and opinions before they turn to the cars in their own driveways. This week, they've been spending time with the 2020 Mercedes-AMG G 63, as well as the 2020 BMW Alpina B7.

After 11 years in production and over 80,000 units sold in the U.S. and Europe, Nissan is about to retire the 370Z and replace it with a brand new sports car, previewed by the Z Proto and possibly named 400Z.

The Nissan Z Proto is chock full of retro design elements, so let's take a tour through our five favorite (plus one bonus) retro touches. If you want a full breakdown of the Z Proto, check out our reveal post here. We go over the powertrain, tech and many other aspects of the Z Proto that make it tick. With that, we'll dive into the list.

With the Nissan Z Proto officially revealed, a lot of questions have been answered. We know what it looks like, and it looks quite good. We know it will have a twin-turbo V6 and manual and automatic transmission options, which also sounds good. But it also raises many questions, since the company didn't give many specifics. One of those is, what is it going to be called? Yes, it will have a Z in the name, but there are numbers and maybe even an extra letter to determine! We don't have a final answer to that, but we have some ideas for what it could or perhaps should be called.

Whatever the Z Proto is called, it will almost certainly derive its numbers from its engine. Ever since its introduction, the engine displacement has dictated the name of the Z. The 240Z had a 2.4-liter engine, the 260Z a 2.6 and even up to today, the 370Z has a 3.7-liter engine. While Nissan hasn't given specifics about the twin-turbo engine, we have a good feeling it's probably a version of the 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6 used in the Infiniti Q50. As such, the new Z would logically have 300 in the name.

Nissan could send off the aging R35-generation GT-R with a limited-edition model with upwards of 710 hp.

The Nissan Z Proto is finally here, and it looks like it offers just about everything enthusiasts have been hoping for. It blends styling highlights from the Z's long history into one, clean, modern package. And under the stylish skin is a twin-turbo engine at the front, drive wheels at the back, and a manual transmission in the middle.

All around the exterior you'll see styling cues that echo a variety of Z cars, but the one that seems to have had the most influence is the original 240Z. Up front, the headlights and surrounding body work feature a low, semi-circle shape that suggests the scalloped headlight openings on that classic. There are chrome highlights across the middle of the grille like the 240Z's bumper. Then there's the rear pillar treatment with circular Z badges, and the angled "Fairlady Z" badge on the deck that appeared on the original car. There are other Zs represented, too. The bulge in the hood has been a longstanding Z trait. The rear taillights are directly inspired by the '90s 300ZX. The rectangular grille and vertical character lines on the front fascia are reminiscent of the 350Z. And the taut lines and muscular rear fenders are very much like the current 370Z. Speaking of the current Z, the Proto is only a couple tenths of an inch off the Z in width and height, but it's five inches longer.

Terrifying security camera footage has captured the moment a pickup truck inexplicably turned into oncoming traffic along a four-lane motorway in Hungary.

After a decade, we're finally getting a new Nissan Z sports car. And we get our first look at it, the Z Proto, tonight at 8:30 p.m. Eastern time. You can see the whole thing in the live stream embedded at the top of this post.

We'll be watching along, and you'll be able to get all the details on the sports car in a complete reveal post when the wraps have been pulled off the car.

The 2020 Nissan 370Z 50th Anniversary Edition is a last-gasp effort at making the old 370Z as relevant as it can be today. Mechanically, the special edition is the same as a 370Z in Sport trim. That means it has the limited-slip differential, upgraded brakes and Rays 19-inch forged wheels. A 3.7-liter V6 with 332 horsepower and 270 pound-feet of torque is under the hood, and our tester is equipped with the six-speed manual transmission. Nissan is channeling its historic Z car past with this special edition car, specifically, it's celebrating the 1969 Nissan 240Z and the #46 BRE 240Z of the SCCA National Championship years.

Two choices are available for the 50th Anniversary Edition car: White/Red, or Silver/Black. One of the Silver/Black 370Zs showed up to our offices, and while we may prefer the White/Red look in photos, this 370Z still managed to stop us in our tracks. The package for the special edition itself is $2,600 on top of the base car and includes the following exterior appearance treatments: an anniversary side marker decal, exterior graphics, 50th Anniversary badging and red wheel accents. The interior adds things like a 50th Anniversary tachometer, special kick plates, leather seats with suede inserts, unique stitching, suede door panel inserts, a suede/leather combination steering wheel and a leather-wrapped shift knob. Equipment additions include a power driver's seat and heated seats. Our tester had unique 50th Anniversary floor mats added in for an additional $290, bringing the grand total to $37,605. 

One of the longest running and most famous nameplates in Nissan's history is that of the Z car. It has been with us since 1969 nearly continuously, and with only occasional missteps. Only a couple Nissans can match it for history and notoriety, such as the Skyline sedans and coupes, and the Patrol SUVs. The Z is also getting a much needed successor in the near future, previewed by the Z Proto. As such, it seemed like a good time to take a look back at the different generations that got us to today.

The first Z arrived in 1969 as the Fairlady Z in Japan, and the 240Z in the U.S. The Japanese name picked up from the roadsters Nissan built in the 1960s under the Fairlady name, the later versions of which were sold in the U.S. as the Datsun Roadster. The American name came from the 2.4-liter single overhead cam inline-six under the hood. It made 148 horsepower and 152 pound-feet of torque and was mated to a manual transmission. It had fully independent suspension with struts at each end. Disc brakes at the front and drums at the rear would bring it to a stop. Over the years, Nissan increased the displacement of the U.S. cars to compensate for power-sapping emissions equipment, leading to the 260Z and 280Z with 2.6-liter and 2.8-liter versions of the straight-six. Larger bumpers appeared on these later models, too, to meet U.S. safety regulations. Nissan also added a lengthened 2+2 model later in this car's lifecycle.