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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.

Automakers Renault, Nissan will become equals, with equal stakes in each other

TOKYO — Nissan and Renault have agreed to equalize the stakes they hold in each other, both sides said Monday, ironing out a source of conflict in the Japan-French auto alliance. Up to now, Renault Group has held a 43.4% stake in Nissan Motor Co., potentially giving it a larger say in how the Japanese automaker is run. It will transfer shares equivalent to a 28.4% stake to a French trust so each side will hold the same 15% stake in the other, according to the companies. The disparity between the holdings was a cause of friction, especially after Nissan became far more profitable than Renault. The agreement on the change is still being finalized and needs board approval from both companies. The companies said the shares in the French trust can eventually be sold but did not say to whom or how. They said the sale will be carried out in a “coordinated and orderly process” if a deal makes commercial sense to Renault Group, and that there is no time deadline. Until then, the voting rights would be “neutralized” for most managerial decisions, but the economic rights, such as dividends, will continue to go to Renault, the companies said. The top shareholder in Renault is the French government. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met with French President Emmanuel Macron earlier this month. The alliance has had its ups and downs since it began in 1999, when Renault sent one of its executives, Carlos Ghosn, to then-struggling Nissan to lead a turnaround. Ghosn first served as Nissan's chief executive and later its chairman before he was arrested in late 2018 on various financial misconduct charges. The alliance, which also includes smaller Japanese automaker Mitsubishi Motor Corp. and remains one of the world's top auto groups, has been eager to put the Ghosn scandal behind it. Allegations against Ghosn include underreporting income, using investment funds for personal gain and illicit use of company expenses, including overseas homes and a yacht. Ghosn said he is innocent of all charges. He jumped bail in late 2019 and is now in Lebanon, which has no extradition treaty with Japan. The equalization of the crossholdings has been speculated about for some time. The companies called the move “an important milestone.” “The ambition is to strengthen the ties of the alliance and maximize value creation for all stakeholders,” said Nissan, based in the port city of Yokohama.

Kaz and Shiro talk Gran Turismo 7 details, Titan Nismo and more in AMA

One of the greatest innovations to come about thanks to the gigantic popularity of Reddit is the Ask Me Anything (AMA) question and answer format. The AMA becomes especially worthwhile, of course, when the person(s) answering the questions have detailed information or insight on products we love.
So, in the case of the recent AMA session with Gran Turismo creator and mastermind Kazunori Yamauchi (above), and his buddy and Nissan chief designer Shiro Nakamura (right), it was basically must-read stuff.
The pair really lived up to our expectations, too, with Kaz offering a lot of useful information about the future of the Gran Turismo franchise (especially the upcoming GT7 for Playstation 4), and Shiro promising to bring some interesting new ideas back to his colleagues at Nissan.