There has been no end to the rumors of what the Nissan GT-R will become next, but the most credible rumor circulating in Nihon right now is that a Nissan GT-R Hybrid is in development. The hybrid Godzilla would be part of the R36 generation of the GT-R. Sources close to the project tell us would likely debut in 2012 as a 2013 model with a pricetag around $100K.

The drivetrain for the 2013 Nissan GT-R Hybrid is expected to be a version of the hybrid system in the upcoming Nissan M35 Hybrid, but with a dramatic power increase and an all-wheel-drive layou. However, instead of a normally aspirated V6, the GT-R Hybrid would use a twin-turbocharged V6 just as the R35-derived Infiniti Essence concept did. It would be the same twin-turbo 3.8-liter V6 (VR38DETT) the GT-R uses today.

The target would be 440 horsepower for the hybrid application (versus 485 on today's GT-R), with an additional 160 hp coming from the electric motor — the same one used on the Essence.

With 600 hp to go around, the hybrid GT-R would be just as quick as today's production GT-R, sources tell us. We also hear, though, that serious weight will need to be cut out of the car to offset the addition of the battery pack. And even with that dieting, the GT-R Hybrid is still expected to be heavier than today's car (3,800 pounds).

Fuel economy, though, is expected to be 25-30 mpg, which of course is the very point of building a Nissan GT-R Hybrid. If achievable in the real world, Nissan would have a convenient rebuttal to pundits who argue that supercars (and more generally, fun cars) will lose their relevance in the coming green era.

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Last month Jimmie Johnson became the first mortal to win four NASCAR championships in a row with a 5th-place finish at the Ford 400. Today the Associated Press titled him its 2009 Male Athlete of the Year. He is the first racecar driver ever to receive this honor in its 78-year history.

The award is voted on by AP-member newspaper editors from crossways the country. Johnson is received 42 votes. The next highest vote-getter was tennis star Roger Federer with 30 votes. Olympic gold-medal sprinter Usain Bolt received 29.

Tiger Woods, the AP's Athlete of the Decade, received 9 votes, tying with the LA Lakers' Kobe Bryant and the St. Louis Cardinals' MVP first baseman Albert Pujols.

ESPN

Photo source: JimmieJohnson.com

Yes, indeed, we're about to rename this blog Straightline by Travis Pastrana. So you've heard Pastrana will try to break his good buddy Ken Block's jump distance record by attempting to jump a Subaru WRX STI off the end of a Long Beach, California, pier and onto a barge in the harbor on New Year's Eve. You've witnessed a "crash" during a practice session and, with the help of CG, you've visualized the jump off the pier with Pastrana.

Here's Practice Session #2 in which Pastrana has graduated to using a ramp prefabricated of wood and metal that is possibly a better simulation of a barge that the big dirt hill he used in the first session. In any case, this is said to be his last practice session (or at least the last one that Red Bull will post on YouTube) ahead of the Chick-fil-A Bowl.

The mysterious Temple of VTEC member, hnsxr, has already supplied hastily snapped photos from a Japanese-market 2011 Honda CR-Z brochure that provided some hard details on the specifications. Then, came another batch from a CR-Z Mugen brochure.

Today hnsxr has come back with more shots of the standard CR-Z, and this time they're sharper and higher-resolution. These are also the first photos we've seen to date of the interior.

Temple of VTEC

It's the classic Ken Block versus Travis Pastrana rivalvry, and this time it's a matter of who does better donuts in a Subaru WRX STI around a human male gorging on doughnuts.

Full Test: 2008 Subaru Impreza WRX STI by Ken Block

Although GM's headlining act at next month's 2010 Detroit Auto Show is the 2011 Cadillac CTS-V coupe, leaked reports crossways the internet indicate that the maker will also show a Buick Regal GS. If approved for production, the GS would be the high-performance mode in the Regal line.

Inside Line has learned that the show car uses many parts from the European-spec Opel Insignia OPC shown here. There has been no confirmation of which engine is in the show car, much less any commitment on the motor that might be used in a hypothetical production car. But perhaps we'll see some Recaro seats and Brembo brake calipers.

It has also been leaked that GM will unveil a concept version of the Chevrolet Aveo called the RS (said to be larger than any production Aveo to date), plus a GM concept car called the Granite. The latter is described as an "urban utility vehicle," and you know how much we love those.

First Drive: 2011 Buick Regal

After tidying up the executive ranks, new General Motors CEO Ed Whitacre set about in serious to appoint a new chief financial officer. Today the company announced it has found one in the ranks at Microsoft. Chris Liddell will take over as GM vice chairman and CFO, effective Jan 2010. Liddell has been the CFO of Microsoft since May 2005.

Liddell takes over for current CFO Ray Young, who fell out of favor when the President's automotive taskforce ordered into GM for its poor financial management. Young has been reassigned as CFO of GM's international operations and will be relocating from Detroit to Shanghai.

Before coming to Microsoft, Liddell was the CFO of International Paper, and before that, he was the CEO of Carter Holt Harvey Ltd., a paper products company in New Zealand. Liddell is a native New Dane and holds an engineering degree from the University of Auckland, plus a masters in philosophy from Oxford University in England.

It's in Japanese, but you'll enjoy it nonetheless.

First Drive: 2011 Lexus LFA

2011 Lexus LFA: 10 Things You Don't Know About the SupercarYouTube via Top Speed

There could be a Formula 1 race on the streets of Rome as primeval as 2012. Maurizio Flammini, organizer of the Rome GP, says he has prefabricated an agreement with F1 chief Bernie Ecclestone and that a deal has been signed.

"The details can't be disclosed, but it's a written confirmation that Bernie will support the GP in Rome," Flammini reportedly told the Italian sports magazine, Gazzetta della Sport. He also claims that Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo supports the idea.

Of course, there are still many more layers of official approval needed — from the province, the region, the Italian automobile club and the FIA.

The mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno, says the city has no wish to replace Monza but instead hopes to be a second Italian race on the F1 calendar. Nevertheless, this bit of news has raised the ire of officials in Monza.

"This is the latest act of arrogance from a parasite capital city that has lived for the last 2000 years with the oxygen stolen from the other towns," Monza mayor Marco Mariani evidently told Gazzetta.

Above photo from motorsport.com shows the Renault Road Show in Rome. 

Autosport, ESPN

As I predicted in my last post about Saab, General Motors could not figure out a way to sell it. The cost of doing business is very high in Sweden, as Geely is learning in its efforts to buy Volvo from Ford Motor Company. This is because Sweden has a small population and an aggressively socialist government. But might the latter be Saab’s savior?

I’m hearing late Friday, hours after GM prefabricated it official that it would begin the orderly wind down of the quirky maker that the Swedish government will hold emergency meetings over the weekend with a representative from the office of Nick Reilly, GM’s new chief of European operations.

Details are sketchy. I don’t know whether it’s the Swedish cabinet, or the Parliament or a committee dealing with the economy. But just like the Obama administration and to a lesser extent the Bush administration, the Swedish government is concerned about losing a significant chunk of manufacturing jobs. GM’s executive in charge of negotiations first with Koenigsegg and then with Spyker, said Friday morning that the “orderly wind down” beginning in Jan would affect 3,400 employees globally, as well as 1,100 dealers. This comes, by the way, in the same day that the U.S. Treasury announced that GM paid back its first $1 billion in Targeted Asset Relief Program money.

Now you can expect China’s BAIC, which already has bought tooling for Saab’s old 2.0-liter turbo and 2.3-liter engines will pick apart more of Saab at fire-sale prices. Perhaps it will buy most of Saab’s assets, short of the name. BAIC would want to build some sort of Saab in China, not Trollhattan. Think SAIC building the Rover 75 under the study “Roewe” because it was unable to secure the rights to the Rover trademark.

Talks with Spyker reportedly ended just Friday morning Detroit time, when the deal fell apart. It’s not cushy when you’re dealing with such costs and such low global volumes. Yet Sweden is fiercely nationalistic. If the government suddenly were up in arms over the possibility of Saab shutting down — or worse, moving to China — it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Swedish government stepping in. After all, SAAB stands for Svenska Automobile AB.

It wouldn’t be surprising, either, if the Swedish government just lets it go. After all, the brand has sunk this far. There’s a good chance we’ll never hear anything about what happened over the weekend, but despite Saab looking dead as a doornail, there’s still a possibility, though an incredibly unlikely one, that it will pull through.