1993 Mitsubishi 3000gt Vr4 on 2040-cars

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Renault to propose joint holding company with Nissan, Nikkei reports

TOKYO — Renault SA will propose to Nissan Motor Co a plan to create a joint holding company that would give both firms equal footing as the French automaker seeks further integration with its Japanese partner, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Friday. Under the proposal, both firms would nominate a nearly equal number of directors to the new company in which ordinary shares in both Nissan and Renault would be transferred on a balanced basis, the newspaper said, without citing sources. This would effectively dilute the stake held by the French government in Renault to around 7-8 percent, from its current 15 percent, it added. The new company would be headquartered in a third country, such as Singapore. Renault plans to make the proposal to Nissan soon, the Nikkei said, having modified an earlier merger idea that Nissan rejected on April 12. Nissan declined to comment on the issue. The Financial Times newspaper reported that both Nissan and the Japanese government have refused to engage in merger talks with Renault. The report of the proposal comes as the outlook for the alliance — one of the world's top automaking partnerships — has clouded since the arrest in November of its main architect, Carlos Ghosn, for suspected financial misconduct. It also comes as Nissan's financial performance struggles following years of focusing on volume sales over building its brand, particularly in the United States, its biggest market. Nissan slashes its forecast This week, the Japanese automaker slashed its profit forecast for the year just ended to its lowest in nearly a decade, citing weakness in its U.S. operations. Renault for years has been vying for a closer merger with Nissan, which it rescued from the brink of bankruptcy two decades ago. Ghosn had been working to achieve a deeper integration before his arrest on financial misconduct charges in November last year. While the automakers have been consolidating many of their operations over the past decade, including procurement and production, many executives at Nissan have opposed an all-out merger with Renault. Instead, Nissan has argued for a more equal footing with Renault, which holds a 43 percent stake in its bigger partner. Nissan holds a 15 percent stake in Renault. It was unclear whether Renault would hold the casting vote in major decisions at the new company, as it did in Renault-Nissan B.V., a strategic management company jointly held by both companies that oversaw operations for the partnership.

2022 Mitsubishi Outlander teased, drifted, muddied

If you've been eagerly awaiting the fourth-generation Mitsubishi Outlander, today is your lucky day. Mitsubishi finally has a debut date for the 2022 edition: February 16, 2021, and the venue will be an online video on the Mitsubishi Motors North America's YouTube channel. That's still three weeks from now, but that channel has a teaser video of the the new SUV in action. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. In it, a camouflaged Outlander does its best Lancer Evolution impression, drifting along in gravel and snow. It also does some light mud bogging and fording of some pretty shallow water. A Montero this is not. In fact, it's not even all Mitsubishi. As part of Nissan's majority stake ownership in Mitsubishi Motors, the Outlander is expected to share a platform and many major components with the latest Nissan Rogue. That even includes Nissan's 181-horsepower, 2.5-liter inline-four mated to a CVT for entry-level models. Of course, the Outlander is also known for its plug-in hybrid variants, and the PHEV might use a 2.4-liter mill with Mitsubishi's own plug-in system. That could see a near doubling of the battery-only range, from 22 to 43 miles. Mitsubishi claims that the new vehicle will combine "everything we know about on and off-road driving put into a single Outlander. Its lead engineer, Kentaro Honda, expands on that, saying, "We took everything we know about on- and off-road driving from the rally experiences to apply the latest Super All-Wheel Control technology in our newly developed platform." If we were to guess, PHEV models will use Mitsubishi's dual-motor Super All-Wheel Control system. The latter will also feature the Evo's yaw control, which can split torque between the front and rear wheels, or between the front wheels alone. One thing that's clear from the videos is that the Outlander will maintain the look of the Engelberg Tourer concept shown in 2019. While the naked Outlander was leaked last month, this camouflaged version confirms the bold design. If you would like to see the live reveal online, tune in to on the 16th at 3:00pm.

Mitsubishi Mirage retiring from the Japanese market in current form

The city-friendly sixth-generation Mitsubishi Mirage has reached the end of its career on the Japanese market. The company's consumer website notes that production has ended, and the news fuels speculation that the hatchback will soon retire from the American market. "Due to the end of production of the Mirage, we may not be able to meet the customer's request for body color, options, etc. Please contact our sales staff for details," the message reads. Interestingly, the end of production isn't announced on Mitsubishi's American website. While the Mirage is overshadowed by Mitsubishi's crossovers and SUVs in the United States, a market that has traditionally been unkind to small hatchbacks, it's relatively popular in several Asian markets and nothing suggests slow sales caused its demise. The current-generation model received a new-look exterior design and additional tech features for 2021, but it entered production in April 2012 as a hatchback and in June 2013 as a sedan so it's fairly old in car years — it sounds like the Mirage has simply reached the end of its natural life cycle. It's too early to tell what's next; our spies haven't spotted a new Mirage testing yet. We know that in some markets Mitsubishi will soon revive the heritage-laced Colt nameplate on a hatchback related to the Renault Clio, but we wouldn't be surprised if the Mirage lives on in one form or another. The Clio stretches about eight inches longer and five inches wider than the Mirage so the Colt won't land as a direct replacement. Similarly, what this means for the Mirage's career in the United States is unclear at this point. "The Mirage remains an integral part of our U.S. line-up at this time," a company spokesperson told Autoblog. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.