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Deltawing takes out second ad targeting Nissan amidst design lawsuit

Don Panoz isn't a guy shy away from a fight. Since December, Panoz's Deltawing Technologies has been in a lawsuit with Nissan over alleged intellectual property violations with the design of the Zeod RC. The situation went public several weeks ago when Deltawing bought an ad in The Tennessean, a paper near Nissan's US headquarters, and the industry trade, Automotive News, aimed squarely at company CEO Carlos Ghosn.
Now, Deltawing is trying the tactic a second time with an even more scathing ad in The Tennessean on July 11 and in Automotive News on July 14 that calls the Zeod's design out directly. The bulletin puts the two racecars side by side and asks readers compare their similarities.
According to Deltawing spokesperson Gary Fong, the idea for these ads started after mediation between the company and Nissan broke down earlier this year. "We were trying to bring them to settle it amicably," he said to Autoblog. When that didn't happen, Deltawing wanted to fight the misconceptions in the public about the program and lawsuit. The strategy actually worked, too. "We've seen an opinion change," said Fong. He estimates that before the advertisements the attitude was "90 percent against Panoz," but there has been more support since them.

Game on as Formula One fields teams for virtual eSports competition

HORLEY, England — Grand prix teams could be racing each other in the virtual world as well as the real one next season, and fighting to sign up the hottest gamer talent, as Formula One wakes to the power of eSports. Darren Cox, the man behind McLaren's "World's Fastest Gamer" competition who also saw one of his drivers win Formula One's first eSports series in Abu Dhabi last month, feels a tipping point has been reached this year. The former Nissan motorsport boss, who runs the eSPORTS+CARS virtual team, can also see the day dawning — in maybe three to five years' time — when top gamers are earning more than the lowest paid drivers on the real F1 starting grid. In a wide-ranging interview at a simulator center where his drivers train near London's Gatwick airport, Cox told Reuters that he expected Formula One teams to become involved in next year's eSports series. "If you look at what the NBA (basketball) has done ... they engaged the teams right at the beginning. So 17 of the NBA teams have got franchises for the virtual side of the sport, and there's a draft like in the real world. "So expect something like that to come out of (Formula One owners) Liberty," added Cox. "It's happening now. Those conversations are being had. "This absolutely will be a big priority for them (Liberty), and I believe they have made it clear to the teams that they will be involved, in some way. "And then I guess it's down to the teams about how involved they want to be." Kitchen porter turns champion Formula One's first eSports series was won by Brendon Leigh, an 18-year-old kitchen porter who had never previously been out of Britain. Leigh, who drives for Cox's team and emerged triumphant from 63,000 initial hopefuls, is likely to go professional. Some gamers in other arenas are already earning more than $1 million a year, and Cox said the rewards in motorsport were growing all the time. "If you go back 18 months, these guys were winning an X-box and a free subscription, not any cash. The cash has suddenly come, and I think that will ramp up," said the man who has been dubbed the "Godfather of virtual racing." Cox dismissed as irrelevant the debate about whether eSport is a sport. "It's here, it's got millions of viewers, it's got a commercial backbone that is strong. It doesn't matter if someone in sport thinks it's a sport or not. eSports don't care." He expected all the big F1 teams to end up partnering with outfits like his.

Nissan plans to slash May car output in Japan by 78%

TOKYO — Nissan plans to slash the number of cars it produces at home in May by 78% from last year, as the impact of the coronavirus shakes the troubled automaker which has already been struggling with falling sales. As global automakers reel from plunging sales amid lockdowns imposed in many countries to curb the spread of the virus, the hit is particularly severe for Nissan, whose profitability has been deteriorating as it grapples with the turmoil that followed the ousting of former Chairman Carlos Ghosn. Nissan plans to manufacture around 13,400 vehicles next month, according to documents seen by Reuters, compared with nearly 61,000 units made in May last year. The cut represents a big hit to Nissan's plant in Kyushu, southern Japan, which the automaker plans to operate on a single shift for much of this month and all of next month, due to a lack of demand for the Rogue Sport SUV crossover model, according to the documents, which are not public. Output will decline 70% from initial plans to build around 44,800 units. In June, domestic production will be cut to 33,700 vehicles, a drop from around 63,700 units last year, and down 43% from a previous plan for around 59,300. Nissan declined to comment on its production plans. The automaker has stopped production at its plant in Tochigi, north of Tokyo, since early April, and plans to keep output suspended through the end of May. Periodic stoppages at Nissan's Oppama plant in Kanagawa Prefecture have been common since earlier this month. The coronavirus pandemic has piled urgency on Nissan's efforts to downsize, after two years of falling sales, deteriorating margins and depleting cash reserves has forced the company to restructure. Nissan's management has become convinced that the company needs to be much smaller and its latest recovery plan due next month will likely assume a cut of 1 million cars to its annual sales target, senior company officials told Reuters earlier this month. Automaking partner Mitsubishi, also suffering from a cut to demand for its cars, is planning to slash domestic output by nearly one-third over the next two months. As both Nissan and Mitsubishi struggle with tanking sales, production plans show one bright spot: Nissan is planning an increase in production of the Nissan Dayz minicar model, which Mitsubishi manufactures for Nissan for the Japanese market. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.