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Mitsubishi Outlander rumored to get Nissan engine, Rogue Sport to get PHEV

A report in the Japanese business daily Nikkei, picked up by Automotive News, said Mitsubishi anticipates using a Nissan engine in the next-generation Outlander headed our way later this year. If the report comes true, the engine swap would be a first for the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance partners outside of Japanese kei cars. Mitsubishi engineers will have an easier time slotting in a Nissan engine as the next-gen Outlander gives up its GS platform — an architecture Mitsubishi co-developed with Daimler Chrysler almost 20 years ago — to move to a modified version of the CMF platform that supports the Nissan Rogue and Qashqai, our Rogue Sport.    Last December, Auto Express spoke to Ponz Pandikuthira, NissanÂ’s European vice president of product planning. The exec said Nissan had two hybrid powertrains under consideration for the next-generation Qashqai, the first being Nissan's serial hybrid ePower system that's fared well in Japan where overall speeds are low, but that might not be suited to Europe's higher average speeds. As for a PHEV, Pandikuthira said, "WeÂ’re not pursuing a big plug-in hybrid strategy. On some car lines weÂ’ll try it out, but the business case for plug-in hybrids is not very good." Completing the round-turn, Nikkei said Mitsubishi would supply its PHEV for the compact Nissan, making the Qashqai the car line that gets the tryout. If that happens, and assuming Nissan brings it here, the Rogue Sport would be Nissan's first PHEV in the U.S. Nissan has tended to delay updating the Rogue Sport to Qashqai spec, so depending on when a PHEV version arrives, it could be the only hybrid in Nissan's U.S. fleet since the Rogue Hybrid retired for the 2020 model year.  The platform and engine exchange would have been planned before Nissan's troubles over the past 18 months, but they represent the alliance's growing effort for greater synergy and lower costs. One supposed tactic going forward comes from the Volkswagen Group playbook, identifying a brand's expertise and putting the brand in charge of developing that expertise for the alliance, the same way the Volkswagen brand develops low-cost platforms and Audi runs R&D for the group. We'll know more about plans afoot at the Franco-Japanese trio when the alliance unveils its new midterm business plan perhaps as soon as this month. Related Video:      

Nissan Rogue Detour uses Google Maps to go create virtual test drive from your doorstep

The best way to evaluate a new car before you buy it is to test drive it. All of the specs and reviews in the world cannot communicate how a car suits you as well as a few minutes behind the wheel. Interesting, then, that according to Nissan, the average buyer spends twice as much time researching new cars online than they do at dealers. To market its new 2014 Rogue, Nissan has launched an online marketing experience aimed at bridging that gap. Called The Detour, it combines Google Street View and Google Maps to give you a custom-tailored virtual test drive. The neat, uniquely interactive part about Detour is that it allows you to specify a starting and ending location. Thus, you can use the microsite to 'show' the Rogue on your commute, or your favorite stretch of tarmac. To spice things up, Nissan has added some digital effects and set the experience to a song by British rapper M.I.A. Detour seems to work better on shorter journeys, because it snips out some portions of the route in order to keep the experience from running too long. If you're going to try it out, we suggest using a crosstown journey rather than going cross country. Scroll down to get all of the details on the Rogue's latest marketing campaign, or click here to try it out for yourself. Nissan Takes 2014 Rogue Shoppers on Cinematic "Detour" with New Google Maps-Based Virtual Test Drive Feb. 4, 2014 – New Online Campaign Shows How Nissan Rogue Makes Every Drive More Exciting – NASHVILLE – Nissan today launched "The Detour," an exciting virtual driving adventure in support of the ongoing rollout of the all-new 2014 Nissan Rogue compact SUV. Available now at nissanusa.com/the-detour, The Detour utilizes Google® Street View, Google® Maps and Google® Satellite API – along with Hollywood-style digital effects and a soundtrack from recording artist M.I.A. – to create a custom test drive experience starting from anywhere around the world. "Recent studies show that new car buyers today spend nearly twice as much time researching their purchases online than at dealerships – more clicking than kicking the tires, so to speak. So why not bring the two together with an informative and enjoyable test drive in buyers' own neighborhoods?" said Jon Brancheau, vice president, Nissan Marketing Communications & Media, Nissan North America, Inc.

Nissan recalls 226k vehicles over airbag inflators

Nissan and Infiniti are the latest automakers to issue recalls involving faulty airbag inflators from Takata. The Japanese automakers have announced campaigns covering about 226,326 units from seven models built in the early 2000s because they contain the bad part in the passenger-side, front airbag. The affected vehicles include the 2002-2004 Nissan Sentra, 2002-2003 Pathfinder and 2002-2003 Maxima, and it also covers the 2002-2003 Infiniti QX4, 2002-2003 I35, 2003 FX45 and 2003 FX35.
Like the other vehicles with the faulty inflators, it's possible for the part to rupture during airbag deployment and spray metal shrapnel at occupants. Nissan and Infiniti have even included vehicles with replacement airbags in this campaign because those parts also could have been defective. Both companies were also part of the earlier regional campaign to fix cars in high-humidity climates where the problem has been found to be the worst.
As is the usual response, Nissan and Infiniti will notify owners of the affected vehicles and will make the repair at no charge. According to the filing with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, these fixes will commence around August 11. Scroll down to read the report from NHTSA, or read the full defect notice as a PDF, here.