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2014 Nissan Serena offers big flexibility in a tidy package

In America, Nissan attempts to slake our kinschlepping needs with its slow-selling Quest minivan, but in Japan, where consumers seem a lot less reluctant to buy MPVs, there are a lot more models for every size family and budget. Nissan itself offers no fewer than six such minivans, including the popular Serena seen here.
Technically a mid-cycle facelift, this new Serena continues to offer seating for up to eight people with a gas-only or mild hybrid driveline delivering power to either the front or all four wheels. This Tokyo Motor Show reveal takes that familiar package and lends it a freshened look, complete with a revamped front fascia with less chrome frosting, optional LED headlamps, new LED taillamps and new alloy wheel patterns. In addition, the Serena receives new active safety technology, including lane departure warning systems, Around View Monitor with Moving Option Detection, Driver Attention Alert, and so on.
With only a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine paired with a continuously variable transmission, you might expect the Serena to be smaller than today's American minivans, and you'd be right - it's roughly the size of a short-wheelbase Gen III Dodge Caravan, making its seating capacity particularly impressive. Said another way, the Serena is likely to stay forbidden fruit, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy it in our gallery.

US approves extradition of Americans accused of arranging Carlos Ghosn's escape

In the latest chapter of ex-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn's dramatic downfall, two Americans are about to face Japan's notoriously tough justice system. The US State Department has approved the extradition of Michael and Peter Taylor, who are accused of helping Ghosn flee Japan, reports the Associated Press. Ghosn was under house arrest in Japan, awaiting trial for alleged financial malfeasance during his tenure as head of Nissan and the Renault-Nissan Alliance. In December 2019, Michael Taylor (pictured), a former member of the US Special Forces, and his son Peter, allegedly smuggled Ghosn out of Japan in a musical instrument case on two charter flights, from Japan to Turkey, and then from Turkey to Ghosn's childhood home of Lebanon. According to the AP, the Taylors received two payments from the Ghosn family totaling $1.36 million (one to Peter Taylor's company and the other in cryptocurrency). Michael Taylor ran a business security firm after retiring from the US Army. The Taylors have been in jail in Massachusetts since their arrest in May. A Federal judge was attempting to block the extradition request from Japan, but on Wednesday, the State Department overruled her, the Taylors' lawyers said. Ghosn, for his part, maintains his innocence and says that he fled Japan because he didn't expect a fair trial in Japan's court system, which has a 99.9 percent conviction rate. Unless this saga takes another unexpected turn, the Taylors will now have to face that very system. Government/Legal Nissan Renault

Nissan is optimistic about FCA partnership, but wants the right terms

BEIJING – Nissan is optimistic about partnering with a combined Renault and Fiat Chrysler (FCA), as long as it can protect the ownership of technology developed over two decades of working with Renault, a senior executive told Reuters. The executive, who declined to be identified because he is not authorized to speak to the media, said he was cautiously optimistic about the possibility of generating "synergies" by sharing Nissan's autonomous drive know-how, electrification and greenhouse-gas-scrubbing technologies for powertrains. But he said the possible $35 billion merger of Renault and FCA would not give FCA the automatic right to use those technologies, which it needs to meet stringent emissions regulations and better compete in a industry being transformed by electric vehicles. He also floated the possibility that Nissan could look at boosting its stake in Renault, or a merged Renault-FCA, to gain more say in shaping the future of the alliance. "We would go ahead with partnering or cooperating with FCA only if we can guarantee tangible benefits from sharing technologies with FCA and only if we can work out conditions that are satisfactory to us," the Yokohama-based executive said. "If Renault wants to pursue this deal, we feel we need to look seriously at supporting them," he said. The executive's comments highlight how Nissan could look to leverage its advanced technology to gain greater bargaining power with a merged Renault-FCA. Renault is Nissan's top shareholder with a 43.4% shareholding, while Nissan holds a 15% non-voting stake in the French automaker. That unequal partnership has long rankled Nissan, which is the bigger company by far. A Nissan spokesman referred Reuters to a statement issued on Monday, where Nissan Chief Executive Hiroto Saikawa said: "I believe that the potential addition of FCA as a new member of the alliance could expand the playing field for collaboration and create new opportunities for further synergies." "That said, the proposal currently being discussed is a full merger which — if realized — would significantly alter the structure of our partner Renault. This would require a fundamental review of the existing relationship between Nissan and Renault," Saikawa said, adding that Nissan would analyze and consider its "existing contractual relationships". BOOSTING STAKE?