One off deals are great for show. Just check out this 286-bhp version of the new Suzuki Kizashi saloon.

Dubbed as the Suzuki Concept Kizashi Turbo, the car was developed by Suzuki tuning specialists Road Race Motorsports (RRM). They basically took a pre-production Kizashi GTA that dishes out a “standard” 185 bhp from a 2.4L four-banger.

RRM then slapped on a new turbocharger and an intercooler to boost the power all the way up to 286 bhp. Aero mods include a rear spoiler, 19-inch alloys with Dunlop tires. The suspensions are also stiffened to cope with the added power.

The standard Kizashi is only available in the US, Japanese and certain select European markets. They’re steering clear of the UK though.

Looks like EVs will be the treat for us all this year. The Nissan Leaf is set to make a splash in the US market and Nissan feels like it’s going to be their next cash cow.

Nissan has been focusing on performance cars for the past few years (the GT-R, the 350Z and the 370Z) so it’s nice to see that they’re keen on making this EV a mass-market thing.

The Leaf EV is powered by a 107 hp electroc motor that gets its juice from lithion-ion batteries. The car has an effective range of 100 miles and a top speed of 87 mph.

The pace of orders peg Nissan to get orders for 25,000 units. That volume is considered decent enough to make the Japanese automaker some decent dough.

How much is a Nissan badge compared to Tata’s? $1000. At least in the battle of the people’s car.

Nissan doesn’t want Tata to take the whole chunk of the third world market with the Tata Nano, that’s why the Japanese automaker tapped its Indian partner Bajaj Auto to create the Nissan Nuvu.

The Nano’s currently selling at $2,500 in India. Nissan plans to keep its pricing competitive with a $3,000 price tag. Nissan plans to sell it in emerging markets in Africa and Asia.

The Nuvu is expected to go on sale in 2011. The Indian market is dominated by sub-$8000 models. The Nissan badge and the price tag is expected to give the car an edge over its rival.

Now this isn’t exactly exotica but the anything that runs on batteries is seen as “cool” nowadays, thanks to the all the “greenwashing” that’s happening.

And since Honda is trying to be the world’s greenest automaker, they decided to make a fuss about the Honda EV-neo – an all-electric scooter aimed to be the de facto Japanese delivery vehicle.

The EV-neo is designed to a robust green monster to withstand the rigors of business use such as deliveries.

The scooter’s brushless electric motor is powered by a lithium-ion battery. No power figures were made available but Honda claims that the scooter packs the same punch as 50cc gasoline motorcycles.

Instead of having cars and helicopters drive and fly around for a visually-stimulating advertisement, the Nissan Sentra SE-R ad simply scaled down everything.

The ad features a remote-controlled car 1/10th the size of the real one powerslide through a real street. You read that right. Powerslide.

There’s a chopper too albeit an RC one too.

It’s the 2010 New York Auto Show and while it’s not jampacked with the more interesting cars that we fantasize about, it’s still filled with cars that are due to hit the US in the near future.

Like this one – the Hyundai Equus. It’s Hyundai’s take on the luxury sedan market. Yes, Hyundai wants you to think of them with the likes of Lexus, the Audi A8 and the Mercedes S-class.

The car is powered by a 4.6L Tau V8 that dishes out 385 hp and 333 lb-ft of torque. The engine is mated to a six-speed automatic ‘box. This configuration gives the car a sprint time of 6.4 seconds to negotiate 0-60 mph.

As for the tech, the car is equipped with heated and cooled seats, GPS, and a Lexicon audio system. The car’s also packing Electronic Stability Control (ESC), a Vehicle Stability Management system (VSM), active head restraints, a lane departure warning system, smart cruise control, and nine air bags.

The car also packs bits of leather and wood to give it a posh feel despite its “cheap” $50,000 price tag.

Source: Hyundai

One less car badge that would have a “Made in the USA” tag. Ford officially announced that it will be selling Volvo to Zheijang Geely Holding Group. The deal is expected to close by the third quarter and has to go through all the necessary bureaucratic hoopla.

Anyway, Geely will be shelling out $1.8 billion for Volvo which Geely will be paying in form of a note worth $200 million and the rest by cash. Jeez. How rich are the Chinese these days? Richer than you, that is.

Ford CEO Alan Mulally says that the sale will allow Ford to focus more on its brand.

While the most profitable of the Detroit Three (Chrysler’s even questionable now that it’s owned by the Italians), Ford is struggling to keep pace with other automakers. Hyundai overtook Ford as the world’s fourth largest automaker last year.

I wonder if ever being Chinese-owned will affect Volvo’s track record of safety. Maybe they’d start painting the car with lead-based paint and use panels made up of toxic plastic.

So Lexus has finally come out with the LFA and many would probably agree that it’s a good car but it’s probably not worth its £300k+ price tag. I still believe that you’d get a way better buck per bang with the Nissan GT-R that it’s supposed to trash.

Anyway, here’s a new meaner version of the LFA – the Lexus LFA Special Edition. The car promises to be a mean track machine having been developed at the ultimate proving ground for many production cars – the Nurburgring.

The car is powered by the same 4.8L V10 engine but the exhaust system and a tweaks to its ECU to dish out 552 bhp. The improved transmission also trims down the shift speeds by 0.05 seconds so shift times now occur in just 0.15 seconds.

The car also sports an aero kit which include a larger rear wing and a new front splitter. The suspensions are also tweaked for added stiffness. The car sits on lightweight rims with semi-slick styles.

Toyota assures everyone that your Toyota vehicle is “safe” to drive. They even gives us these videos demonstrating the proper ways to stop your vehicle in cases that you feel that it’s out to get you.

How to Stop a Toyota Hybrid

How to Stop a Toyota with Stuck Accelerator Pedal

That’s it for Ralliart, folks. The economy has claimed yet another victim. Ralliart announced that it will be closing shop effective April 1, 2010.

The drop in demand for Mitsubishi and the overall crash of the car market, however, has forced Ralliart to call it quits.

Fans of the Ralliart badge of Mitsubishi performance vehicles, however, need not weep as the Ralliart models slated in Mitsubishi’s lineup will endure the closure.

Ralliart was established by former racing driver Andrew Cowan as Andrew Cowan Motorsports in 1983. It forged a partnership with Mitsubishi building performance parts and tuning cars for motorsports.

Ralliart has served as Mitsubishi’s motorsport arm building epic machines that won the WRC and the Dakar rally.