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Total auto recalls already on record pace in 2014

If you've noticed that there have been more recalls than usual this year, you may be on to something. According to a report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the US market is on pace to break a record for recalls. In 2013, 22 million cars were recalled. We're only a third of the way through 2014, though, and we've already halved that figure, with 11 million units recalled. That's wild.
Considering the past few months, it shouldn't be a surprise that General Motors is leading the charge, with six million of the 11 million units recalled coming from one of the General's four brands. Between truck recalls, CUV recalls and the ignition switch recall, 2014 hasn't been a great year for GM.
Other recall leaders include Nissan (one million Sentra and Altima sedans), Honda (900,000 Odyssey minivans), Toyota (over one million units in a few recalls), Volkswagen (150,000 Passat sedans), Chrysler (644,000 Dodge Durango and Jeep Grand Cherokee SUVs) and most recently, Ford (434,000 units, the bulk of which were early Ford Escape CUVs). So while it's been a bad year for GM so far, its competitors aren't doing too well, either.

2016 Nissan Maxima launches production in Tennessee

The 2016 Nissan Maxima saw its big debut at the end of the brand's 90-second Super Bowl commercial this year. However, we didn't get the full details about the latest generation of the model marketed as the four-door sports car until the recent New York Auto Show. Now just a few weeks later, the sedans are rolling down the assembly line in Smyrna, TN, and they should hit the road this summer. "Today's launch of the all-new Maxima is the beginning of an exciting year for Nissan's US lineup, with new versions of the Altima, Sentra and Titan due later this year," John Martin, Nissan's senior vice president for manufacturing, supply chain management and purchasing, said in the production announcement. The sedan's revised 3.5-liter V6 is also made in Tennessee at Nissan's Decherd Powertrain Plant. The 2016 Maxima certainly looks different than other mainstream sedans with its prominent V-shaped grille, slashing headlights and floating roof. Prices start at $32,410, plus $825 for destination. For that, customers get a 300-horsepower V6 that's connected to what Nissan claims is a "performance-oriented" CVT. The latest model is also estimated to get 30 miles per gallon on the highway. NISSAN BEGINS PRODUCTION OF EIGHTH-GENERATION MAXIMA "4-DOOR SPORTS CAR" IN TENNESSEE NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Nissan's Smyrna Vehicle Assembly Plant continues its reign as the top-producing automotive plant in North America, as Gov. Bill Haslam, U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander and Tennessee Economic and Community Development Commissioner Randy Boyd joined plant employees to celebrate the start of production for the all-new 2016 Nissan Maxima. "When Nissan came to Tennessee more than 30 years ago, there were almost no auto jobs in the state," said Alexander. "Three decades later, about one-third of our manufacturing jobs are auto related, auto suppliers have located in 80 counties, and our family incomes are higher. I want to thank Nissan for providing opportunities for thousands of talented Tennesseans." The first U.S.-assembled Maxima rolled off the assembly line in Smyrna in January 2003. Since then, Nissan has produced nearly 800,000 Maxima sedans at the plant, with more than 60,000 shipped to markets worldwide. Maxima is one of six models currently built at the Smyrna plant and is assembled on the same line as the Altima midsize sedan and all-electric Nissan LEAF. Maxima's new 3.5-liter, VQ-series V6 engine is also assembled in Tennessee at Nissan's Decherd Powertrain Plant.

2014 Nissan Rogue

When I first started in this whole automotive journalism biz, I held a sort of hodgepodge receptionist/gopher/production assistant role, and each morning as the staff filed in, I'd ask them how they liked whatever car they were assigned to drive the previous night. Most of my colleagues would regale me with anecdotes about how good or bad a vehicle was, but one co-worker, every single morning, would answer my query with the exact same phrase: "It was fine."
I always assumed this was just a brush-off, an "ask me again after I've had a cup of coffee" sort of response. But then I found myself in a similar moment of brevity following the launch of the 2014 Nissan Rogue earlier this week. After returning home, a friend asked me what I thought of the new Rogue, and I replied, word for word, "It was fine."
And, well, it was. Nothing worth wasting exclamation points over, good or bad. Aside from something like the interesting-to-drive Mazda CX-5 or funky-looking Jeep Cherokee, nothing in this class really tries to set the world on fire. And that, right there, is fine. Nissan doesn't need to do anything crazy with its second-generation Rogue. It just needs to offer a well-equipped crossover that's handsome, functional, efficient and priced right - sticking to the same formula that made the first-generation model so successful while offering the latest crop of creature comforts in a more modern package.