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Nissan shares slide 5% after report Renault exploring stake reduction

TOKYO — Shares of Nissan Motor Co slumped 5% on Monday, their biggest fall in more than a month, following a report that top shareholder Renault may consider lowering its stake in the Japanese automaker. Bloomberg reported on Friday that Renault may consider lowering its Nissan shareholding as part of plans to separate its electric vehicle business. The French car maker has been pushing ahead with plans to split its electric and combustion-engine businesses in an attempt to catch rivals such as Tesla and Volkswagen On Friday, Renault said all options were on the table for separating the electric vehicle business, including a possible public listing in the second half of 2023. Any plans would be subject to approval from alliance partner Nissan, Renault finance chief Thierry Pieton said, adding the Japanese automaker was "in the loop" as Renault weighed up its options. Renault and Nissan have declined to comment on the report. Shares of Nissan fell to 509.8 yen in Tokyo, marking their biggest one-day decline since early March and underperforming an almost 2% drop in the Nikkei index. The car makers' two-decade-old alliance, which includes Mitsubishi Motors, was rocked by the 2018 ouster of alliance founder Carlos Ghosn amid a financial scandal. They have since pledged to pool more resources. In January they said they would work more closely together to make electric cars. They detailed a $26 billion investment plan for the next five years. But their unequal relationship has long been a source of friction in Japan. Renault owns 43.4% of Nissan, which in turn has a 15% non-voting stake in its shareholder. Renault bailed out Nissan two decades ago, but is now the smaller automaker by sales. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Earnings/Financials Green Mitsubishi Nissan Renault

Four Wheeler crowns Ultimate Factory 4x4... who wins?

Nearly every automaker doing business in the SUV or pickup truck segments offers a package designed to improve the off-road capabilities of its wares. But, of course, not all such factory kits are created equal. How, then, to separate the wheat from the chaff? Gather each of them up and put them through their paces, naturally.
The folks from Four Wheeler and PickupTrucks.com joined forces to run just such a comparison test, with the winner named the Ultimate Factory 4x4. A total of seven vehicles showed up to the fight: the 2012 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor, 2013 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, 2012 Nissan Frontier PRO-4X and Xterra PRO-4X, 2012 Ram Power Wagon, and 2012 Toyota 4Runner Trail and Tacoma TRD T|X Baja Series.
With the contestants in place, the whole crew put each vehicle through a battery of tests that included skidpad and acceleration measurements, a hillclimb, a rocky stairstep course and a rock garden. Considering the nature of the beasts, on-road ride and comfort were not part of the routine.

Chevy Volt sales drop in June, Nissan Leaf inches upwards

Different month, same story. That's the gist of the monthly US sales numbers from the Chevy Volt and the Nissan Leaf. These were the first two mass-market plug-in vehicles to go on sale in the US and we've been comparing their sales numbers for what seems like ages now. So far, the 2014 tale of the tape shows the all-electric once again trumping the plug-in hybrid. The last time the Volt outsold the Leaf was in October 2013. Chevrolet sold 1,777 Volts in June. That was good enough to be the Volt's best sales month of the year, but it's down 34 percent from the 2,698 units sold in June 2013. In fact, it's on par with the 1,760 Volts sold in June 2012. Given the steady sales, General Motors might need to push up the release of the next-gen Volt to gin up excitement, especially if it also offers some of the things that current Volt drivers say they want improved: more range, a lower price and a fifth seat. GM also said it sold 85 Spark EVs in June, an increase of 215 percent over June 2013 Nissan sold 2,347 Leafs last month. The good news continues for Nissan, which says it sold 2,347 Leafs last month. That's an increase of 5.5 percent over 2013 numbers and makes 2014 the best June ever for Leaf sales. Let's credit Texas. Toby Perry, Nissan's director of EV sales and marketing, said in a statement that, "Since the Texas state incentive went into effect in May, we've seen a big jump in Leaf sales in the Austin, Dallas and Houston markets. Our dealers are telling us that they saw more traffic in their stores, and they had their best Leaf sales performance in the last weekend in June." Even with that increase, Atlanta remains the top Leaf market. Nissan has sold 12,736 Leafs in the US so far this year; Chevy 8,615 Volts. Our detailed monthly sales write-up of green cars in the US, including plug-in vehicles, hybrids and diesel cars, is coming soon. For now, we invite you to discuss these numbers in the Comments. Related Gallery 2013 Nissan Leaf View 55 Photos News Source: GM, Nissan Green Chevrolet Nissan Electric Hybrid PHEV ev sales