2020 Nissan Pathfinder S on 2040-cars

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Nissan's big price cuts threatening others' profits

Bloomberg reports Nissan may be keeping the competition up at night even more than normal. The Japanese automaker recently cut prices on seven of its models and bolstered incentive offerings in an attempt to gain market share in the US, and the strategy is working. Last month saw the company's sales leap by 25 percent, which is nearly triple the industry average. Nissan is currently taking advantage of the weak yen - Japanese currency has fallen by 15 percent against the dollar, which has given the automaker around $1,500 per car to use to either add features or cut prices. Some analysts are calling the policy "scorched earth."
Meanwhile, American automakers like Ford, General Motors and Chrysler are doing their best to keep from sliding back into old bad habits. The Detroit Three have steadily moved away from a discount and incentive strategy to bring in new buyers since the 2009 recession. Those short-sighted tactics helped paved the way for bankruptcy at both GM and Chrysler. As Bloomberg reports, the resolve to stay away from big discounts may falter if Toyota begins using similar tactics.

Recharge Wrap-up: utility sells discounted Powerwall, Nissan-Renault builds 340K EVs

Vermont electric utility Green Mountain Power is selling discounted Tesla Powerwalls to its customers in hopes of balancing the grid. The battery packs would be used not just to help customers store renewable energy for home solar systems or as backup power, but also to occasionally discharge power back to the grid when needed. In addition to this decentralized energy storage being useful to customers, it also benefits the utility by taking demand off energy generating infrastructure during periods of peak demand. The pilot project will put 500 Tesla Powerwalls in customers' homes. Learn more at Green Car Reports, or in the story from Vermont Public Radio. Together, Nissan and Renault have built 340,000 electric cars. The allied Japanese and French automakers hit 100,000 EVs in July 2013, 200,000 in November 2014, and a quarter million in June of 2015. The Nissan Leaf, which first went on sale at the end of 2010, makes up the bulk of the EVs the Renault-Nissan Alliance has sold. Renault delivered its 50,000th Zoe EV in April 2016. Leaf sales have declined in the US in recent months, due at least in part to the anticipation of the Chevrolet Bolt and Tesla Model 3. Nissan, however, is expected to update the Leaf with a 200-mile driving range in the coming years. Read more at Green Car Reports. Students at the Bearys Institute of Technology (BIT) in Karnataka, India have built what they call the Hybrid Water Car. The car uses a system to electrolyze hydrogen from water and add it to the fuel for more efficient combustion. The system has been placed into a chopped up, lightweighted Maruti Omni. While the benefits of onboard hydrogen electrolyzers have been debated for some time, the BIT students don't plan to stop there, as their next project car will be fueled completely by hydrogen. Read more from Car and Bike. Facebook has hired Rich Heley away from Tesla. The former Tesla VP of Product Technology is making the move to the social media giant's new Building 8 research lab. Heley joined Tesla in November 2013 after working at Apple. Read more at Automotive News.

Nissan to make 85% of the vehicles it sells here in US

We could be in for a big push from Nissan in the manufacturing realm if Vice President of US Sales and Marketing Fred Diaz has anything to say about it. Speaking to the Automotive Press Association recently, Diaz (above) expressed a desire to build some 85 percent of the vehicles Nissan sells to Americans in the US, claiming it will happen "in the very near future." Nissan has already moved to increase exports of its US-built products, and in 2013, it built just over 76 percent of the models it sold in this market within our country's borders.
"Any issues of us taking advantage of the value of the yen, we want to dispel that," Diaz told reporters, pointing out the contentious issue of currency manipulation. There's also the obvious goal of positive PR - Americans like things made in America, and they like companies that invest in America. Diaz is quick to point out that Nissan had done just that: "While a lot of people retrenched [during the recession], instead we leaned into it and we continued investing and in fact made over $5 billion in investments, bringing a lot of production from Japan to the United States and to Mexico," Diaz said, pointing out that Nissan has helped create 8,000 jobs through its investments.
Nissan runs three factories in the US, two in Tennessee and one in Mississippi. Between the three, production is up 22 percent, while the overall exports from the facilities have increased by 100,000 units, Diaz told reporters.