2012 Nissan Rogue Sv on 2040-cars

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Nissan to give Qashqai the Nismo treatment

Nismo is on a bit of a rampage lately. Once consigned to the fringes, Nissan has taken its performance sub-brand into the mainstream and let it loose on a whole mess of its products. The Juke Nismo was followed by a 370Z Nismo, and in Los Angeles, we saw the GT-R Nismo, Sentra Nismo concept and Juke Nismo RS.
So what's next from Nismo? According to the latest intel from across the pond, Nissan is working on a tuned version of its new Qashqai. Car magazine is reporting that the larger crossover will get the same 1.6-liter turbo four as the Juke Nismo, but with the RS model's 212-horsepower out and not the "base" model's 197. Expect all the other bells and whistles applied to transform a Nissan model into a Nismo one to apply as well.
If the Qashqai name doesn't ring any proverbial bells for you, that's alright, because it's only sold overseas, where it's one of Nissan's most popular models. The crossover (which looks like the new Rogue but is a substantially different model) was recently completely replaced, with engine options ranging up to 150 horsepower - so the jump to over 200 should make for quite a different beast altogether. Whether a parallel or subsequent program to give the Rogue a similar treatment is another matter, but given the pace at which Nismo seems to be running, that may only be a matter of time.

Nissan Xterra discontinued after 2015

Another great big subtraction in the choice of proper off-roaders comes with news from Edmunds that the Nissan Xterra will meet its maker after the 2015 model year. Sales of the body-on-frame SUV introduced in 1999 declined seven percent last year compared to 2013, a total of just 16,505 getting off dealer lots. That's about 1,800 more sales than the Toyota FJ Cruiser achieved for the year, another rugged trail runner recently dispatched into the ether. Meanwhile, the king-of-the-hill Jeep Wrangler almost matched those annual sales number each month in 2014; it moved 19,235 in May alone. Nissan hasn't exactly cared about the Xterra for years; Edmunds reported in 2013 that Nissan was "mulling the Xterra's future" and would take a year to decide if it was going to keep going. But it has been clear for years that the company wasn't too interested in its hardcore off-roader in spite of its "enthusiastic fan base inside and outside the company." The last visible refresh came in 2009, when it was 4Wheeler magazine's SUV of the Year, the next minor feature updates not arriving until 2014. And the Nissan-backed off-road triathlon series the Xterra was named for died in 2006. That's why there's no business case for throwing money at re-engineering the Xterra's safety and emissions specs, especially in a world gone crazy for subcompact crossovers. We contacted Nissan for comment on the report and asked if another Nissan vehicle, like the Rogue, would be positioned as a near-replacement, as has been speculated before. Product communications director Dan Bedore told us, "Nissan has made no announcement as to the future status of Xterra. For proprietary reasons, we do not discuss future product plans or comment on media speculation about future plans." Right now we can hear the Jeep Wrangler at the top of the mountain screaming, "Nobody wants a piece of this? Really?!" So come on, General Motors - it's up to you now.

Waymo partners with Nissan, Renault on robotaxis outside U.S.

SAN FRANCISCO — Self-driving car pioneer Waymo is teaming up with automakers Renault and Nissan to make its first journey outside the U.S. with a ride-hailing service that will dispatch a fleet of robotaxis in France and Japan. The partnership announced late Wednesday underscores Waymo's ambition to deploy its driverless technology throughout the world in an attempt to revolutionize the way people get around. The Mountain View, California, company can afford to try because it's backed by one of the world's richest companies, Google, which secretly began working on driverless technology a decade ago before spinning off that project into what is now known as Waymo. After launching its ride-hailing service in France and Japan, Waymo intends to explore other European and Asian markets with Renault and Nissan. "This is an ideal opportunity for Waymo to bring our autonomous technology to a global stage," Waymo CEO John Krafcik said. Waymo, Renault and Nissan didn't set a timetable for when their ride-hailing service will launch. They left most other details vague. It seems likely it will still be several years before Waymo will be in a position to pose a serious challenge to Uber, the world's largest ride-hailing service. Although Waymo's self-driving technology is widely considered to be the world's most advanced, it still isn't adept enough to be trusted without a human poised to take control in case something goes awry with the robot. Waymo had hoped to launch a fully autonomous ride-hailing service last year in the Phoenix area, but instead is still keeping human safety drivers in those vehicles more than six months after it rolled out. That service, known as Waymo One, is still only offering rides to a few hundred passengers that previously participated in a test program. Krafcik told the German newspaper Handelsblatt last year that Waymo will likely use a different brand for its ride-hailing services outside the U.S. That could be one reason Waymo is working with France-based Renault and Japan-based Nissan, household names in their home countries. Waymo has previously struck deals with two automakers, Fiat Chrysler and Jaguar, but those involved ordering tens of thousands of vehicles to be equipped with self-driving technology for services in the U.S. So far, Waymo is only using Fiat Chrysler minivans for its Phoenix service. The partnership with Renault and Nissan also involves a long-time alliance they formed with Mitsubishi.