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Nissan's Taxi of Tomorrow shut down by NYC courts [UPDATE]

Justice Schlomo Hagler may have just put a big dent in Nissan's plans to rule New York City's taxi fleets and outgoing Mayor Mike Bloomberg's vision of a unified fleet of yellow cabs.
As an October 28 deadline approached that would see all current, non-hybrid taxis replaced over by the Nissan NV200 over a three-to-five-year span, the legal battle that's enveloped the Taxi of Tomorrow program from the start has intensified. In a lawsuit, the Greater New York Taxi Association claims New York's Taxi and Limousine Commission overstepped its powers in mandating that taxi fleets are refitted with the NV200, according to the New York Daily News. This isn't the first time the courts have sided with the cabbies in the ToT debate.
Justice Hagler agreed with the cabbies, striking down the Taxi of Tomorrow purchasing requirements, and saying, "Simply stated, the power to contract and compel medallion owners to purchase the Nissan NV200 from Nissan for ten years does not exist in the City Charter," according to The Wall Street Journal.

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 to present Vision Gran Turismo concept at Goodwood?

Power up your PlayStation and pop in any edition of Gran Turismo and you'll have hundreds of cars to choose from. But arguably few have managed to bridge the gap between that virtual world and reality than Nissan.
The Japanese automaker is the one responsible for putting the best gamers behind the wheel of actual race cars with its GT Academy, co-sponsored by Nissan and Gran Turismo. Yet while the likes of Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volkswagen and Mitsubishi have already revealed their Vision Gran Turismo concepts specifically designed for the game, Nissan has been left behind. And as it is apt to point out in its latest infographic, that's not a position to which it's accustomed.
The graphic outlines all 148 Nissan vehicles you can drive in Gran Turismo, but leaves the last one under wraps, identified only by the date June 10, 2014. That's this Tuesday, when Nissan is hotly anticipated (thanks in no small part to the Tweet below from Nissan VP Andy Palmer) to reveal its own Vision Gran Turismo concept at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.