We’ve heard within the grapevine that another cog of thein addition to the latter initiating the former a diminutive car and the former presenting the latter a pickup, is the current Chrysler will be ditching its Daimler-sourced Sprinter commercial van in favor of a rebranded Nissan van by 2011. As we now know, Nissan is planning on producingfor the U.S. at its plant in Canton, Mississippi, and it will be sourcing selected engines for its new LCVs on Cummins. Thus, we is able to too presume to see the familiar sight of a Cummins diesel underneath the hood of Dodge’s version, as well. Will we come to find even a good amount sharing between Chrysler and Nissan as opportunity goes on? Our methods say these organizations are not done raiding every other’s aspects bins by a for a long while shot.
 

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]