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Nissan bringing 'New Sedan Concept' to Beijing Motor Show

During the 2014 Detroit Auto Show, Nissan showed off its Sport Sedan Concept (pictured above), an orange creation meant to foreshadow the next generation of the brand's "Four-Door Sports Car," the Maxima. For the 2014 Beijing Motor Show, though, Nissan is going to deliver a Chinese take on a future four-door, with the New Sedan Concept (imaginative name, we know).
Like the Nissan Friend-Me Concept from the 2013 Shanghai Motor Show, the NSC has been designed by Nissan Design China in Beijing. Outside of that, information is in short supply. Nissan claims this latest concept is targeted at the Chinese digital lifestyle. Whether it serves as an evolution of the Friend-Me's swoopy design or a regional take on Nissan's Detroit concept, though, remains to be seen.
We'll have the full slate of info on the Nissan New Sedan Concept, along with everything else that happens at the 2014 Beijing Motor Show, when the floor opens on April 23. Take a look below for the official press release from Nissan, which also includes a recap of previously debuted models that will be shown at Beijing.

Nissan's Ghosn called out by Deltawing's Panoz in print ad

When the Nissan ZEOD RC limped to the side of the Circuit de la Sarthe a mere five laps into this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans, we imagine that a certain American motorsports figure at least smirked a little. Don Panoz's ongoing feud with Nissan probably means he wasn't sorry to see the arrow-shaped racecar's poor showing, and now he's stepping up his campaign against his former racing partner.
For those who need a refresher, back in 2012, Panoz and Nissan teamed up to field the DeltaWing, an innovative, wedge-shaped racer, as the first entry in the 24 Hours of Le Mans' experimental Garage 56 concept. The car rapidly became a fan favorite. The Panoz/Nissan alliance didn't last, though, and before long, the DeltaWing's designer was getting a paycheck from Nissan and the ZEOD RC racer arrived. Shortly after that, Panoz began mulling over a lawsuit alleging intellectual property infringement. The American motorsports icon would eventually pull the trigger on a suit back in December of 2013.
Panoz's latest move in the ongoing feud involves an open letter in both The Nashville Tennessean, the paper that serves Nissan's US headquarters, and trade paper Automotive News. The letter calls out Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn directly, and points out some of the similarities between the DeltaWing and the ZEOD RC, going so far as to quote the original car's designer, Ben Bowlby.

Demand for electric car rentals unplugged by range anxiety

It's the hurdle that electric vehicles must clear to be launched into the mainstream: range anxiety. But this time it isn't prospective customers who worry about running out of juice, Bloomberg reports, but renters who return to car rental agencies before their lease is up and trade their EVs in for more traditional gasoline-powered autos and gas-electric hybrids.
"People are very keen to try [electric vehicles], but they will switch out of the contract part way through ... they think they can't get to a charging station," says Lee Broughton, head of sustainability at Enterprise. Enterprise customers who rent EVs reportedly trade them in 1.6 days into the rental period on average, which compares unfavorably to the six- to seven-day rental periods of traditional, fuel-burning automobiles.
Christopher Agnew, an analyst at MKM Holdings LLC, says that longer range would help rental customers' range anxiety, especially since they are usually renting vehicles in unfamiliar places.