Nissan to introduce 15 hybrid models

Tokyo, Dec 12 (IANS)

Japan's Nissan Motor Co. is expected to introduce 15 models of hybrid vehicle by the end of fiscal 2016, as it aims to boost its lineup of green cars, the company said Wednesday.

Nissan will update versions of existing vehicles as well as introduce new models. It plans to sell a total of 1.5 million units of electronic vehicles globally together with its French alliance partner Renault SA by the end of 2016, the Japanese news agency Kyodo reported.

The global cumulative sales of the automaker's Leaf electric vehicle have already topped 46,000 units as of the end of November since the model was launched in December 2010, reported Xinhua.

--IANS

View the original article here

2012 Nissan Leaf Includes Additional Equipment, Costs More Money, and Has Expanded Availability

The 2012 Nissan Leaf will be available soon in more markets than it was for its launch year, and all Leafs are now more winter-ready with the addition of newly standard cold-weather equipment.

The Nissan Leaf first launched in Arizona, California, Hawaii, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington, and now the electric hatchback will be available in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. Nissan plans to further expand Leaf availability to Connecticut, Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York by the fall. Finally, by the end of 2011, the company will offer customers in Delaware, Indiana, Louisiana, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island the chance to own a Leaf.

Primarily for owners in the chillier new markets, a battery warmer, heated steering wheel, and heated front and rear seats are standard kit for the 2012 Leaf—even those sold in the arid Southwest. Nissan also is making DC fast-charge ports standard equipment for Leaf SL models after finding that most customers chose the $700 option. The new standard equipment does drive up the price of the Leaf considerably: the entry-level SV now costs $36,050 before any tax incentives—a $2420 increase compared to the 2011 SV. The uplevel SL’s price swells by $3530 to $38,100 before any give-backs.

View the original article here

2011 Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet – Road Test

May 20, 2011 at 10:43am by John Pearley Huffman

Come, friend, on our good and fearless quest for meaning at the heart of this infernal chimera.

Tell me, oh muses, of the hero who hacked the famous Murano of Nissan. Who was this who beheaded the benign crossover and created this fearsome CrossCabriolet? What god does he serve? Is it the sun god Helios? Hades, king of the underworld? Or was it Hera, the queen of women and childbirth, whose nest is now empty?

Keep Reading: 2011 Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet – Road Test

Tags: convertible, Japanese, Nissan, Nissan Murano, Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet, performance testing |

View the original article here

2011 Nissan Leaf SL – Long-Term Road Test Intro

May 19, 2011 at 6:20pm by David Gluckman

We embark on three months of short trips in Nissan’s electric car.

Welcome to an exceptional long-term road test, and our first all-electric experience. It’s also an exception to our normal long-term program. Nissan agreed to give us a Leaf for an extended, three-month loan, but we’re not going to cram our normal 40,000-mile regimen into that timeframe. The reason is obvious: With the Leaf’s maximum range of around 100 miles (on a good day, with the wind at your back, and the moon in the seventh house—more on this later) and long recharge times, it would take quite a while to reach the prescribed C/D long-term mileage. And as we’ve found from our brief encounter so far, we’re an impatient lot.

Keep Reading: 2011 Nissan Leaf – Long-Term Road Test Intro

Tags: electric, hatchback, Japanese, long-term, Nissan, Nissan Leaf |

View the original article here

Nissan Gives More Information on NYC Taxi—And The Small Van We May Be Seeing in Dealerships

Nissan and the City of New York announced yesterday that Nissan’s NV200—a compact, car-based van—will be the exclusive new taxi for the five boroughs beginning in 2013. Since then, Nissan has released additional details about the future yellow submarine, and, just as important, that information gives us a clearer picture of the compact van the company will sell to American consumers, too.

What the Taxi Drivers Get

The NV200, which is already in production and is sold in other countries, is naturally well-suited for the rigors of New York taxi duty: Sliding doors are perfect for narrow streets and pose no risk to passing cars or hapless cyclists; there’s loads of headroom, and ample space for luggage and cargo. To further cabify the NV200, the taxi version will feature a transparent roof, and a mobile device charging system (though Nissan’s mum on whether that’s simply an AC outlet or some kind of induction charging mat). Nissan also touts a “low-annoyance” horn, which we take to mean one that’s less loud, and also flashes the exterior lights simultaneously. Exterior lights will also flash when the vehicle’s doors are open, alerting other drivers who are sure not to care about disembarking passengers. Nissan has set the MSRP of its NV200 taxi at $29,000—it seems pricey, but bear in mind that this includes all the trimmings for non-stop passenger hauling.

What We, the Consumers, Get (Hopefully)

There’s just no sense in Nissan importing or building domestically a small van if the only sales are to the 13,000-strong fleet of yellow cabs in New York. Even if other livery companies in other cities get on board the NV200 road train, the business case isn’t there. We reported previously that Nissan wants to bring an additional small van to the U.S., and it looks like the NV200 will be it.

Underhood, Nissan tells us, the taxi will pack a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine. It’s difficult to imagine the company paying to federalize a completely new engine for the NV200, meaning the mill is probably the 2.0-liter out of the entry-level Sentra. In that application, the engine makes 140 hp and 147 lb-ft, and is hooked to a continuously variable transmission. It’s possible, of course, that Nissan’s got a new 2.0-liter four in the works for applications in other vehicles, too—unfortunately, it’s just too early to say what will power the NV200, on dealer lots or waiting in front of Gray’s Papaya.

We’ll be looking for news from Nissan about the NV200's rollout in cities—and hopefully, in dealer showrooms too. We love us some vans!

View the original article here

New York City Picks Nissan NV200 Small Van as Future Yellow Cab

After considering a large number of proposals, New York City’s Taxi and Limousine Commission announced today that it has selected a small van from Nissan, called the NV200, as the Ford Crown Victoria‘s heir apparent as the yellow cab for New York City. This will give Nissan an exclusive 10-year contract to supply New York City taxi operators with vehicles.

The selection process began in 2009, when Ford’s Crown Vic went into full zombie mode. Since then, companies operating yellow cabs in the five boroughs have been free to supply politically correct vehicles; most are Ford Escape hybrids, and the rest of the city’s roughly 13,000 yellow cabs are comprised of Volkswagen Jetta TDIs, Toyota Siennas, Priuses, Nissan Altima hybrids, and even the occasional Lexus RX400h or Toyota Highlander hybrid.

Nissan’s NV200 beat out the similarly sized Ford Transit Connect, as well as a Turkish company’s clean-sheet proposal; the latter company, Karsan, even suggested building its van in Brooklyn. (For a further Turkish connection, it’s worth noting that all Ford Transit Connects sold in the States are imported from Turkey.) While the NV200 isn’t sold in the U.S. in any form, Nissan has said it plans to expand its van offerings here beyond the hideously truckish NV. Unlike the body-on-frame NV, however, the NV200 is car-based, and is a fairly conventional vehicle in markets like Europe, where small vans are popular.

Interior of the European Nissan NV200. You can fuhgedabout ours having a stick.

We expect yellow NV200s to begin hitting New York’s streets in 2014, and they will proliferate as the existing motley collection of taxis wear out. To avoid the 25 percent chicken tax on trucks, Nissan may want to build the NV200 in the U.S.; this especially makes sense, as we fully expect Nissan to offer the small van to retail consumers. It’s also unclear what will power the NV200. In Europe, the van is offered with a choice of tiny gas or diesel engines. Neither of these is suitable or economical for Nissan to bring to the U.S., so we expect that the company will install a four-cylinder engine already familiar to the American market, like the 1.8-liter powerplant used in the Cube, Sentra, and Versa.

While 13,000 vehicles isn’t a tremendous number, New York City’s taxi choices influence fleet selections for other cities as well, as the big companies that operate regionally like to have a standard vehicle and set of replacement parts and tools.

Unfortunately, neither Nissan nor the City of New York has given any impression that there will be any changes to the incredibly annoying video clips forced on rear-seat taxi passengers.

View the original article here

2011 Nissan Juke SL – Long-Term Road Test Intro

April 28, 2011 at 6:49pm by Mike Dushane

To lower cost and consumption, Nissan shrinks the crossover.

Months in Fleet: 2 months
Current Mileage: 3116 miles
Average Fuel Economy: 23 mpg
Average Range: 304 miles
Service: $0
Normal Wear: $0
Repair: $0

The 2011 Nissan Juke defines a new micro-niche: the sporty B-segment (subcompact) economy crossover. It has more ground clearance than mainstream subcompacts like the Honda Fit, Ford Fiesta, and Nissan Versa (on whose platform the Juke is based), and it’s cheaper than the Mini Countryman, which is comparable in size—and which wears similarly polarizing sheetmetal. The Juke looks good from the side and back, but the front resembles a wide-eyed cartoon bullfrog. We can overlook a butter face for overall agreeability, though, so we ordered a Juke for a 40,000-mile test.

Keep Reading: 2011 Nissan Juke SL – Long-Term Road Test Intro

Tags: hatchback, Japanese, long-term, Nissan, Nissan Juke, Nissan Juke SL, performance testing, turbocharged |

View the original article here