Nissan Celebrates Its 90th Anniversary With JDM Specials

Nissan marks its 90th birthday with five special editions in Japan, and McLaren switches to a build-to-order system in the US and Canada.

Nissan was founded on December 26, 1933, which means the company is only days away from turning the venerable age of 90. To mark the important milestone, the "90th Anniversary" collection is being launched in Japan. It comprises no fewer than five models: Sakura electric kei car, Leaf electric hatchback, Note and Note Aura hybrid hatches, and the Serena minivan. Sadly, the more exciting Z and GT-R are not included in this group.

The cars share an assortment of copper and black body accents, along with dark wheels and more of that copper inside the cabin. Nissan is also offering hood decals as a dealer-installed option. You can also order different floor mats embroidered with "90th Anniversary" along with other miscellaneous items like a special license plate frame.

McLaren Moving Away From Stockpiling Cars In North America

McLaren is changing how it operates in North America by adopting a build-to-order system in the United States and Canada. Going forward, the 29 showrooms will receive vehicles that have already been ordered by a customer. It means dealers will no longer get a bunch of cars before trying to find them a new home.

However, there will be a couple of exceptions as dealers are still going to stockpile the more "mainstream" models such as the Artura and GT since these are typically sold quicker. McLaren Americas sales boss Geoff Tink explained in an interview with Automotive News how the new system works:

"We will allocate inventory to those dealers that show demand in the form of customer orders and effectively provide our allocation to the places where it's needed the most."

The decision to primarily switch to a build-to-order system makes sense considering as much as 80 percent of McLaren vehicles purchased in the US are custom orders.