Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn has held to his belief that hybrids are not the answer to the fuel efficiency question. The Japanese automaker came out with a very capable Altima hybrid last year, but it was Toyota technology purchased to help Nissan look good in the short term. Nissan has been betting most of its R&D dollars on electric vehicles, and the fruit of its engineering labors will be first seen stateside in 2010. It's important to note that Nissan intends to launch the technology here in the States, which is significant because Japanese automakers typically launch new technology in their home market first before U.S. customers ever see it.
Nissan hasn't revealed much about the vehicle besides a 2010 release date, but we do know that the automaker is working to install charging stations in many urban parking garages and railway stations in the U.S. A robust EV charging infrastructure will quell critics' worries that electric vehicles' limited range will prevent the technology from becoming a mainstream answer for gasoline power. It'll be interesting to see if Nissan can surprise the car-buying public with a game-breaking EV before GM and Toyota can deliver the Volt and plug-in Prius.
The motorsport press is reporting that Fernando Alonso will announce sometime today whose car he will be driving next season. The two-time world champion was recently released from his contract with McLaren-Mercedes, with whom he had a very tumultuous last season. Rumors have been circulating the paddock as to where he'd be heading as a newly free agent, but Flavio Briatore, his former boss at Renault, has made no secret of the door he's left open and the light he's left on for Alonso to come back home.
Briatore's plans, however, could be stalled by an unexpected intervention from his boss, Carlos Ghosn. Although the Renault-Nissan CEO rarely appears to stick his nose into the day-to-day running of the racing team, sources quote him as saying Renault would not give Alonso a one-year ride. The champion has stated that he'd only sign with Renault for a single season, fueling speculation that he could be headed to Ferrari in 2009, despite Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa doing a great job for the Scuderia and being under contract through 2009 and 2010, respectively.
Briatore is reportedly eager to accept Alonso's terms, but according to Ghosn, "It's three years or nothing." Stay tuned for more news.
That Carlos Ghosn, he gets around. The CEO of two major automakers already, Renault and Nissan, is still interested in partnering with a third automaker, preferably one from North America. A potential deal to get up close and personal with General Motors fell through last year, but Ghosn insists about every two months or so that he's still open to the possibility of his expanding his alliance for an interested third party. But see, that's the thing, no one's interested (at least not Ford and Chrysler LLC). And since Ghosn realizes that a hostile takeover-type scenario doesn't breed good will between buddies, there he waits across the pond, leaning on his brand new Nissan GT-R trying to look all cool and attract the right mate. May we suggest a dash of Drakkar Noir, Carlos? Works every time.
[Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd, photo by Mychele Daniau/AFP/Getty]
If we told you that a seven-seat Nissan was on its way with a turbo-diesel option, inoffensive looks, and a reasonable price tag, you'd think it was too good to be true. Well, it actually is true if you live in Europe, where the Qashqai currently serves as Nissan's soft-roader. For now, however, there is only room for five, but the folks over at Car Online have shots of an extended Qashqai with an additional eight inches of length beyond the b-pillar that provides room for a third row of seats.
Judging by the lack of incognito camo, this crossover looks to be well on its way to market, and it will be powered by a 115-hp 1.6L engine, as wellas both the Qashqai's 2.0L gasoline and turbo-diesel engines. An additional £1,500 is tacked on for the added 200mm, which brings the base price up to £15,000. We can plainly see the additional length of the Qashqai vs. the standard wheelbase version, but it's still hard to believe two people can sit in the small area that makes up that third row of seats. We're guessing the aft-most bench will be akin to the benches in the Toyota RAV-4 and Mitsubishi Outlander, meaning only little people and children need apply.
This just in: Carlos Ghosn is the man. He has rescued a car company from the abyss, he's been immortalized in Japanese manga, and now he's been knighted on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II by British ambassador to Japan, Graham Fry. Ghosn was bestowed the honorary title in recognition of his contribution to British-Japanese relations. It doesn't hurt that Nissan owns Great Britain's largest automotive factory, which accounts for 20% of total British car production. Ghosn described himself as feeling "proud and humbled' to receive the honor, and called it an acknowledgment of Nissan's 5,600 UK employees.
It's hard to imagine how Ghosn will split up his already crazy schedule of running two automotive companies and sitting with the other knights at the round table...
Word has just come across the wire that Nissan will be offering a "voluntary transition program" to all of its hourly employees working in either its Smyrna or Dechard manufacturing plants in Tennessee. These are effectively buyouts, which can net an hourly worker a lump sum of $45,000 and a bonus $500 for each year of service. It's certainly not the sweet deal offered to members of the UAW who work for General Motors and Ford, but the offer could help Nissan reduce the rank and file of its relatively young and non-union work force in North America. For whatever reason, the offer is only being made to employees at these two plants in Tennessee. The Smyrna plant employs about 6,700 people, though some are surely salaried, and produces the Altima, Frontier, Maxima, Xterra and Pathfinder. The Dechard plant only employs 1,400 people and produces many of Nissan's engines, including the glorious VQ 3.5L V6. This news is pretty fresh, so we'll keep our ears peeled for reaction from the auto pundits.
We can hear Carlos now, "We don't need no stinking kei cars!" According to Japan Today, Ghosn et all don't see a need to build or design their own kei cars. Instead of going through the hassle of building their own tiny car for the markets that consume them, Nissan will still prefer to sell another OEM's product as their own. Nissan currently sells two kei cars designed by Suzuki and Mitsubishi, the Moco and Otti respectively.
Obviously, kei cars, or keijidōsha, are popular in Japan. Mitsubishi and Suzuki already produce very respectable kei car designs, why would Nissan even bother when it can focus its design and manufacturing energies on what the rest of the world scrambles for, like compacts? We've never known Ghosn for doing something that wasn't absolutely necessary.
Renault-Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn is being honored by the UK for his "contribution to relations between the UK and Japan". Ghosn will be appointed "Honorary Knight Commander of the British Empire" (which, incredibly, actually has nothing to do with either Dungeons and Dragons or the Lord of the Rings).
Like Mario Andretti's commendatore honor bestowed by the Italian consul-general in New York, Ghosn will be pseudo-knighted in a ceremony at the British Embassy in Tokyo. Because he's a foreign national, we can't technically call him "sir", but he can add the letters KBE to his name. Ghosn is actually the second Datsun chief to receive the honor, after former Nissan chairman Takashi Ishihara received the same in 1992.
Ghosn attributed the recognition to the "hard work and achievements" of Nissan's 5500 employees and 220 dealers in the United Kingdom. After winning both the constructors' and drivers' championships in Formula One just this past Sunday, we bet this will make Ghosn walk even taller. Congratulations, Carlos!
UPDATE: They Speak! Official release addressing dissolution of talks after jump.
We're now awaiting official word from Renault (it came, see after jump) concerning the break off of talks between the automaker, its alliance partner Nissan, and General Motors. While we're waiting, we thought you'd be interested in a few more details that are perhaps pertinent to figuring out why these three-month long exploratory talks ended abruptly with less than two weeks to go.
The WSJ reports that GM chief Rick Wagoner and head of Nissan and Renault Carlos Ghosen spoke on the phone this morning and agreed the two sides were not seeing eye-to-eye on the value of an alliance. GM basically put the question to the other side, "What's it worth to you?"
The largest single sticking point seems to be GM's demand that Nissan-Renault pay a "control premium" if it purchased 20-percent of the General's stock. GM believed that since Renault-Nissan would make out like a bandit if such an alliance were to happen, that the Franco-Japanese automaker should make a lump payment to GM to make up the difference and equalize everyone's interests. The two sides couldn't come to an agreement on how much additional coin Renault-Nissan should cough up for the pleasure of doing business with GM, so that's when the party ended.
Yesterday GM gave us a big indication that the alliance wouldn't happen when the board of directors made amendments to the company's bylaws that will make it difficult for a single shareholder to rally other shareholders and influence management. That's exactly what billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian did to start this whole GM/Renault-Nissan business, and yesterday the board made it so that such a move by a single share holder would be much more difficult in the future. Clearly GM management did not appreciate being manhandled into this situation, which probably spelled its doom from the get-go.
In the end, this whole business seems to have turned out to be a big waste of time. Though Mr. Kerkorian believed he was acting in the best interest of the company in which he owns a 9.9-percent stake, perhaps he should sit down now and let the real auto executives do their jobs. GM is beginning to finally show signs of life and distractions are the last thing its management needs.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that talks between General Motors and Renault/Nissan have ended. The news comes from an unnamed person familiar with the situation, which could be the guy that fills the water glasses on the conference table, and Renault so far is refusing to comment. We do know that the board of General Motors met yesterday, presumably to discuss what had been learned from 90 days of exploratory talks held behind closed doors between GM and Renault/Nissan. The domestic giant, however, made no statements following the board meeting and is so far mum on the WSJ report, as well.
The WSJ's source says that the chief executives of both companies, one Mr. Rick Wagoner and one Mr. Carlos Ghosn, terminated the talks themselves. Thus, if this report is true, then any possibility of an alliance forming between General Motors and Renault/Nissan is gone.
Word has it that Mr. Ghosn stopped for a Coney's chili dog in Dearborn on his way out of town, though. Hmmm... (We're kidding, we know for a fact chili gives Carlos gas.)
Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn has held to his belief that hybrids are not the answer to the fuel efficiency question. The Japanese automaker came out with a very capable Altima hybrid last year, but it was Toyota technology purchased to help Nissan look good in the short term. Nissan has been betting most of its R&D dollars on electric vehicles, and the fruit of its engineering labors will be first seen stateside in 2010. It's important to note that Nissan intends to launch the technology here in the States, which is significant because Japanese automakers typically launch new technology in their home market first before U.S. customers ever see it. 
This just in: Carlos Ghosn is the man. He has rescued a car company from the abyss, he's been immortalized in Japanese manga, and now he's been knighted on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II by British ambassador to Japan, Graham Fry. Ghosn was bestowed the honorary title in recognition of his contribution to British-Japanese relations. It doesn't hurt that Nissan owns Great Britain's largest automotive factory, which accounts for 20% of total British car production. Ghosn described himself as feeling "proud and humbled' to receive the honor, and called it an acknowledgment of Nissan's 5,600 UK employees.
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