2014 Nissan Armada Sv on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Mitsubishi and Nissan teaming up on electric kei car

Nissan and Mitsubishi have announced plans to build an electric kei car together. The yet-unnamed car would mark a major step towards electrification of Japan's popular supercompact segment. The car will be powered by a 20 kWh battery and will be engineered to cover daily driving duties in a Japanese driving cycle. The car can also double as a mobile power source or power a home in emergency situations. Nissan says the car will measure 134 inches long, 58 inches wide, and 65 inches tall, in order to comply with laws limiting kei car size. The companies state that the car will be developed by NMKV Co., Ltd., a joint-venture that stands for Nissan Mitsubishi Kei Vehicle. Each carmaker owns a 50 percent stake, and already jointly builds models such as the feline favorite Nissan Dayz, which Mitsubishi sells as the eK. In reality, that likely means Mitsubishi will be developing the car and Nissan will simply slap a badge on it. Nissan has not traditionally built kei cars, choosing instead to rebadge those made by Suzuki or Mitsubishi. In fact, Mitsubishi built the first electric kei car, the i-Miev, way back in 2009, and it was actually sold in the U.S. until 2017. The jellybean-shaped EV was a pioneer in the field, but its 62-mile range from a 16 kWh lithium-ion battery showed the limitations of the technology at the time. Mitsubishi moved about 32,000 of them before they pulled the plug, with a pre-tax-credit price ranging from $23,000 to $31,000. The new Nissan-Mitsubishi kei car will land at around 2 million yen, or $18,200. The price, while slightly more expensive than a gasoline counterpart, bucks predictions from analysts that said prices would skyrocket by 66 to 120 percent if kei cars were forced to electrify. A petrol-powered Nissan Dayz starts at around $15,200. Size-wise, the two share a similar footprint as they are governed by kei car size limits. The special class of cars get unique license plates and other registration cost benefits due to their compact dimensions. A BMW i3 would exceed those boundaries due to its 158-inch length and 70-inch width. However, the larger EV comes equipped with a substantially bigger 42.2 kWh battery good for 152 miles of range. Though no photos have been released, we predict it will look like the iMk concept (pictured above). The car will go on sale in spring 2022. Related Video This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Now Mitsubishi Motors has ousted Carlos Ghosn, days after Nissan firing

TOKYO — Mitsubishi Motors said on Monday its board removed Carlos Ghosn from his role as chairman, following his arrest and ouster from alliance partner Nissan last week for alleged financial misconduct. Ghosn's sacking in a unanimous board vote marks the end of his chairmanship of Japanese automakers, just two years after he was praised for bringing a steadying hand to Mitsubishi Motors following a cheating scandal in 2016. CEO Osamu Masuko will become temporary chairman, the automaker said. "Ghosn has lost the confidence of Nissan" and it is "difficult for him to fulfill his duties," spurring the dismissal, Mitsubishi Motors said in a statement. Nissan holds a controlling 34 percent stake in Mitsubishi Motors and has two executives on the board. The move comes amid discontent over French partner Renault SA's role in the 19-year Franco-Japanese alliance of which Ghosn was the driving force. Sealed in 1999 when Nissan was rescued from near-bankruptcy, it was enlarged in 2016 to include Mitsubishi and enabled the members to jointly develop products and control costs. The alliance vies with Volkswagen AG and Toyota for the ranking of the world's biggest automaker. Even as Nissan has recovered and grown rapidly, it remains a junior partner in the shareholding structure. Renault owns 43 percent of Nissan and the Japanese automaker holds a 15 percent non-voting stake in the French firm. And Nissan is almost 60 percent bigger than Renault by sales. Top alliance executives are meeting this week in Amsterdam, aiming to shield their joint operations from the fallout of Ghosn's arrest as a power struggle between Nissan and Renault looms. Renault has refrained from firing him as chairman and CEO. Mitsubishi Motors already had plans to discuss its position in the alliance with Ghosn and, following the ouster, it needs to consider focusing on regions and technology where it can retain competitiveness, CEO Masuko told reporters after the board meeting. Cooperation among alliance members is needed amid the rise of new technology like automated and internet-connected vehicles, he said. Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa told staff on Monday that power was too concentrated with Ghosn and that in future better communication between alliance board members and executives would help preserve independence and generate synergies among the automakers, a Nissan spokesman said.

Nissan IDx 'in the plan' for production, needs support from fans [w/poll]

If there's a trend in the auto industry we can firmly get behind, it's the small, light and affordable rear-drive coupe. The positive critical reception to the Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ twins has encouraged other manufacturers to look at building their own rear drivers, and even a few to show actual concept cars based on the idea. The Chevrolet Code 130R from 2012 and more recently, the Nissan IDx twins that were first shown at the 2013 Tokyo Motor Show both come to mind, as does the brand-new Kia GT4 Stinger Concept.
Nissan trotted out the IDx Nismo and the IDx Freeflow for another showing in Detroit and we'll admit to being totally smitten with both cars. Again. The duo draw inspiration from the iconic Datsun 510, a lightweight, affordable rear-driver that remains a cult favorite decades after production ended.
Now, a report from our friends at AutoWeek reveals that we may, possibly, hopefully see a production IDx, provided fans make a strong enough case for it. "It's in the plan," Nissan product boss Andy Palmer told AW. According to the report, Palmer said the IDx is "into the first sage of the development process. The next stage is project validation and then looking at the business case. It's no one's intent to waste millions of the company's money, so obviously we have a good feeling about this one."