2014 Nissan Rogue S on 2040-cars

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2015 Nissan Versa Sedan continues to prioritize space and price over looks

Nissan's refresh of its cavernous Versa Sedan is on hand today at the 2014 New York Auto Show. While we continue to appreciate the Versa for its space and low price, this slight restyling of the four-door sedan hasn't done much for its uninspiring appearance.
Newly enlarged headlights and a reworked, more Altima-like grille are the biggest changes to the front of this Versa, although Nissan has also added some brightwork around the revised foglight housings. Integrated turn signals liven up the mirrors, while the rear of the car wears a new and almost strangely sporty bumper.
Perhaps more importantly for prospective owners, Nissan has also made a few interior tweaks, with a new steering wheel and a revised center stack leading the change. There's some new available tech on the top-end SL model, as well.

Recharge Wrap-up: Renault EV movie, H2 fueling in Paris

Renault has debuted a new documentary called Le Peuple Electrique, or The Electric People. The film features two drivers touring France over the course of three weeks in a Renault Zoe electric vehicle. Along the way, the duo meet and come to rely upon other members of the EV driving community. Renault is showcasing the film at the COP21 summit in Paris to give an insight into the culture of electric vehicles. See the film above (it's in French), and read more in the press release from Renault.Nissan and Renault have joined forces for an ad campaign for their electric vehicles. The campaign, which focuses on the Nissan Leaf and Renault Zoe, coincides with the COP21 environmental summit, for which the automakers have supplied 200 electric cars as shuttles for attendees. The ad campaign consists of press, posters, and a series of six videos, each 15 seconds in length, to be shown on social media networks in France, the UK, Germany, Spain and Italy. Read more from Renault.Air Liquide has announced a hydrogen fueling station for fuel cell taxis in Paris. Electric taxi company STEP plans to launch a fleet of at least 70 Hyundai ix35 (Tucson) Fuel Cell taxis in the next five years. The fueling station will be located at Cours Albert 1er near the Eiffel Tower, so this is truly in the heart of the city. "This first station will allow us to promote the benefits of hydrogen as a clean energy for vehicles with consumers," says Air Liquide's Francois Darchis. "Hydrogen offers a concrete solution to the challenges posed by the issue of sustainable mobility, reducing greenhouse gas emissions as well as local pollution in urban areas." Read more from Air Liquide, or at Technologic Vehicles.The world's largest ultra-fast EV charging station is now operational in Beijing, China. Located at the Xiaoying Public Transit Bus Terminal, the station is capable of charging buses to 100 percent in as little as 10 minutes. It features 25 360-kW chargers and five 90-kW chargers, and enough space for 30 buses at a time. The buses come in to charge two or three times a day during their regular operation. Just in time, too. Read more in the press release below. World's Largest Ultra-fast EV Charging Station Goes Live in Beijing, Fully Charging Commercial Vehicles in 10 Minutes This 26,500 m(2) EV charging complex has 25 chargers at 360kW and 5 chargers at 90kW; maintaining a capacity for Ultra-fast charging 30 urban transit buses at the same time STAFFORD, Texas, Dec.

Infiniti will move back to Japan from Hong Kong in 2020

BEIJING – Nissan's premium brand Infiniti is relocating its headquarters back to Japan from Hong Kong, its home since 2012, to create "more operational efficiencies" with its parent company, according to a document seen by Reuters on Wednesday. The move planned for mid-2020, and expected to be publicly announced later on Wednesday, will help the Japanese automaker cut costs amid a slump in its global earnings in the year ended March 31. "The relocation will further integrate (Infiniti) with global design, research and development and manufacturing functions based in Japan," Nissan said in the statement, adding that Infiniti would continue to "operate independently". The move also was "crucial" for Nissan to follow through on its strategy to electrify the Infiniti lineup, the document said, with plans for every premium model launched from 2021 to be either all-electric or "e-Power" hybrid. A Nissan official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that while there was a "fair amount of platform and other base technology sharing" between Infiniti and the main volume brand Nissan, "there could be more". Nissan's global operating profit plunged 45% in the last fiscal year and would likely drop another 28% to "rock bottom" in the current one, according to company filings earlier this month. Infiniti's move back to Japan will reverse a decision made under ousted leader Carlos Ghosn to dilute the premium brand's Japanese origins in order to foster a more global image. Its Hong Kong headquarters has about 180 employees who were told about the move back to Yokohama earlier on Wednesday, according to the Nissan official. The Hong Kong headquarters and the global image it was intended to promote were seen as critical for Infiniti to make inroads in China, where being Japanese can sometimes be a handicap because of historical animosities. In 2012, Infiniti and other Japanese brands took a battering in the wake of diplomatic spats over disputed islets known as Diaoyu in China and Senkaku in Japan. Since then, Japan's bilateral relationship with China has steadily improved and Japanese automakers including Nissan and Toyota are seeing their businesses expand, even as China's overall auto market has slumped over the past year. (Reporting by Norihiko Shirouzu; Editing by Stephen Coates)