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Another one bites the dust, and this time its International, that’s decided to drop its line of non-commercial big rigs. Considering the tough times that automakers have been having moving traditional pickups off dealer lots and into driveways, you can imagine the problems that International must be having with its CXT, MXT and RXT consumer-grade semis. Current fuel prices alone may have been enough to bring the Internationals to a grinding halt, but the faltering economy, which has made luxury toy purchases much harder to justify, may have been the final nail in the XT’s coffin. In any case, this isn’t a death-blow to International, as the company didn’t sell too many of these leviathans anyway, and their demise will allow the company to focus its attention back on the heavy-duty hauler segment that is its bread-and-butter, along with the military segment, which surely is more profitable than the others.

We can come up with all manner of criteria for evaluating a car at any level: design, performance, spec sheet, ride, features, technology, value… but the one factor that trumps all others, what it all really comes down to, is how it appeals to our inner child. At the heart of it, that’s why we love Lamborghinis and HUMMERs and Mustangs… and this particular Hyundai i10. It’s just a treat.

The ice-cream van conversion wasn’t made for Good Humor, although it certainly put us in that state of mind. It was created as a promotional tool for the British launch of the i10 by auto innovator Andy Saunders, the same guy who gave us the neo-Picasso Citroen 2CV and the ground-hugging Fiat 126, among others. While the Poole, England-based customizer has come up with many creative designs before, we doubt any of them would get children running after it down the street like the Pied Piper. Have a look at the images in the gallery below and pick out something delicious on us.
[Source: theCarfanatic.com and AutoTrader.co.uk]

Nissan is holding its second ever Nissan 360 event in Cascais, Portugal as we speak. The two-day Nissan (and Infiniti) product extravaganza gathers every product produced by the company from around the world, and we’re here to drive them all. We were in the Infiniti group yesterday, so we tooled around the Portuguese coast in rides like the FX50 and EX35, which we’ve already had a chance to drive on American soil. We also took the Speed -Racer-worthy GT-R for a spin or three around the Estoril race circuit, and got a ride with a pro driver at the wheel.
The only Nissans we got our hands on were the Large Commercial Vehicles, a Clipper JDM van, and a two-generation-old, authentic Nissan Cedric taxi complete with fare receipt printer. But stay tuned, because we’ll be right back with first drives of impossibly cute Nissan city cars like the Cube, Moco, and Micra, among others. In the mean time, feel free to check out the gallery of hi-res shots from our first day in preparation for more to come.

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The bulk of the Mercedes-Benz range gets alphanumeric designations. One of the few exceptions is the utility van which, versatile though it is, is not the first vehicle that would otherwise spring to mind in association with the name Sprinter. Duesseldorf-based tuning house Hartmann is doing its part to rectify that, however, with its new SP5 package.

The kit features an aero body kit with sportier front bumper, grille, side sills and rear apron, a new exhaust system with twin tailpipes, and though they don’t look it in relation to the towering height of the vehicle itself, the wheels have been upgraded to 19″ alloys with 255/55 R19 tires. Hartmann also does its magic in the cabin as well, with dash kits in wood or carbon fiber and chrome trim. Hartmann says its van conversion would make a good platform for a mobile office, promotional vehicle or delivery van for “exclusive products”, and offers an array of engine mods depending on the stock powertrain chosen to make it more, you know… sprinty. Don’t expect to see a brown one delivering your UPS packages anytime soon, though.

[Source: Carscoop]