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Nissan reveals new Qashqai crossover for Europe

Between the Juke, Rogue, Murano, Xterra, Pathfinder and Armada, Nissan offers a wide variety of crossovers and SUVs in this market. And that's not even counting the trucks, vans and Infiniti crossovers. But in the European market, it all comes down the Qashqai. Not that Nissan doesn't offer other crossovers in Europe, it's just that the Qashqai has, since its introduction in 2007, accounted for the lion's share, with over two million sold globally (of which 1.5 million were in Europe). And now, after teasing it repeatedly, Nissan has introduced the all-new model.
Larger, sleeker, more advanced, more comfortable and more environmentally friendly than the model it replaces, the new Qashqai is designed in Europe, for Europe, and hits the market at the start of the new year. It's the first European model to be based on Renault-Nissan's new Common Alliance Platform that will eventually encompass three Nissan models and 11 Renaults built in locations around the world.
An array of gasoline and diesel engines, ranging from 110 to 150 horsepower, will be available in two- or four-wheel drive configurations, with either a six-speed manual or the type of continuously variable transmission which Nissan champions.

Nissan Friend-Me Concept is cooler than its name

Here is the Nissan Friend-Me, a swoopy - and let us emphasize that word "swoopy" - sedan-with-a-hatchback developed specifically for Chinese youth in their mid-twenties, the ones born in the '80s mainly bereft of siblings due to China's one-child policy. The exterior is meant to be most imposing at night, when Nissan figures these single children will be getting together with their friends. The sheetmetal looks like it was shaped by waves, and the details like lighting and vent openings could have been penned on Krypton.
The real show is inside, where peers are made equal and can interact with one another via the "oracle stone." The concept is that instead of a driver and three passengers, everyone gets access to the same information and the ability to alter the ambiance of the car - dash readouts are provided for all of the occupants, and anyone can move content from their phones to the in-car screens to be shared throughout. As Nissan says, it's the end of anyone being a "music dictator."
Designed by Nissan Design China for a specific market-within-a-market estimated to contain 240 million potential buyers, Nissan says the wishes of these customers and the ideas in this car could shape automotive offerings for decades to come. So read all about it in the press release below and take some long virtual looks in the galleries of high-res photos.

Honda may recall up to 1M vehicles for airbag issue, following Toyota's lead

It seems Toyota won't be the only one recalling the faulty Takata airbag inflators for long. Honda insiders in Japan claim that the company is getting close to announcing its own worldwide campaign that would begin before the end of June.
Unnamed sources close to Honda in Japan tell Automotive News that the company is pursuing an internal investigation into possibly affected models and is working with Takata to gather more information. They claim that it could involve even more than the 1.14 million cars worldwide that the automaker covered under the first recall for the problem in April 2013, including 561,000 vehicles in the US.
Toyota jumpstarted this process last week when it recalled over 2 million cars worldwide, including 844,277 in the US. Soon after, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began a preliminary evaluation into the issue following six reported incidents, and started assembling data about potentially affected models from Toyota, Honda, Mazda, Nissan, Chrysler. NHTSA also began investigating Takata itself.