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Nissan happy with plug-in vehicles for now, will wait on hydrogen

Anyone who's driven the Nissan Leaf knows that it won't set any land speed records. Still, ask Nissan Vice Chairman Toshiyuki Shiga, and the battery-electric vehicle will be miles ahead of any hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles for the foreseeable future in Nissan's advanced-powertrain plans. Figuratively, of course. Shiga, speaking in Singapore, elaborated on Nissan's interest in developing a production hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle, and, to put it bluntly, he said the company didn't have much interest, the Japan Times reports. Sure, Nissan reached an agreement with Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler and Ford early last year to work together to speed up fuel-cell-vehicle powertrain development. Like Toyota, Honda and Hyundai, the automakers appear to be following the axiom that hydrogen fuel-cell technology is the best-of-all-worlds option for advanced powertrain because of the combination of zero emissions and conventional-vehicle-like full-tank range. Still, the prohibitively high cost of building hydrogen refueling stations will prevent any substantial adoption anytime soon, Shiga says, hence Nissan's focus on battery-electric vehicles. Nissan sells the all-electric Leaf in about 40 countries, and the model is the best-selling battery-electric vehicle in the world. In the US, Nissan sold 24,411 Leaf vehicles through October, up 35 percent from a year earlier.

Nissan, Renault reveal how they'll reshape alliance to cut costs, regain profit

TOKYO — The auto alliance of Nissan and Renault said Wednesday it will be sharing more vehicle parts, technology and models to save costs as the industry struggles to survive the coronavirus pandemic. Alliance Operating Board Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard said the group, which also includes smaller Japanese automaker Mitsubishi, will have each company focusing on geographic regions. “There is no plan for a merger of our companies,” the chairman said. “Our model today is a very distinctive model ... we donÂ’t need a merger to be efficient.” He stressed the alliance needs to adjust to the “unprecedented economic crisis,” to pursue efficiency and competitiveness, not sheer sales volumes. “Now is the time to rebuild,” Senard said, making clear he believed the alliance remained strong. All automakers are suffering from the pandemic, and scaling back or suspending production, but Nissan was reeling before the crisis struck from a scandal involving its former chairman, Carlos Ghosn. Yokohama-based Nissan is due to report its annual results on Thursday and has forecast it will slip into its first yearly loss in 11 years. Under the latest so-called leader-follower initiative, Nissan will focus on China, North America and Japan; Renault on Europe, Russia and South America and North Africa, and Mitsubishi on Southeast Asia and Oceania, for the benefit of the entire alliance. Nissan Chief Executive Makoto Uchida said the alliance planned to pursue fiscal strength together. “The synergy is huge,” he said. The number of vehicles sharing the same platform will double by 2024, saving 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion), according to Senard. The shared technology will also include electric cars and autonomous driving, platforms and car bodies, the executives said. Nissan is a leader in electric cars with its Leaf, but such technology will be available to the other alliance members, they said. The companies gave few details of how the revamp would deliver in the short term, as the car industry grapples with the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic and pressure to develop less polluting vehicles. They said in a joint statement that they aimed to produce nearly half of their vehicles under the new leader-follower approach by 2025 and hoped to cut investment per model in the scheme by up to 40%. The range of vehicles they produce is expected to fall by 20% by 2025 though the firms did not say how many jobs would go as they shift production.

Datsun previews new budget sedan for Russia [w/video]

Nobody does cars on the cheap quite like the Renault-Nissan Alliance. The former part of the equation already has its Dacia brand of cost-effective, no-frills vehicles that have become a favorite of Top Gear co-host James May, and last summer, the latter revived its Datsun nameplate for a budget brand of its own.
The reborn Datsun launched in India this past July with its Go hatchback, returned in September with the Go+ minivan and revealed the Redi-Go concept just last month. And now it's given us our first look at an upcoming budget sedan developed specifically for the Russian market.
The as-yet unnamed vehicle (which we'll bet will incorporate the word "go" into its nameplate somehow) is set to debut on April 4, where it will launch the Datsun brand in Russia. Few details are available at this point, but the low-cost sedan was designed in Japan to offer Russian drivers "an engaging driving experience, peace of mind ownership and accessibility at the right and transparent price, with a competitive Total Cost of Ownership."