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Kaz and Shiro talk Gran Turismo 7 details, Titan Nismo and more in AMA

One of the greatest innovations to come about thanks to the gigantic popularity of Reddit is the Ask Me Anything (AMA) question and answer format. The AMA becomes especially worthwhile, of course, when the person(s) answering the questions have detailed information or insight on products we love.
So, in the case of the recent AMA session with Gran Turismo creator and mastermind Kazunori Yamauchi (above), and his buddy and Nissan chief designer Shiro Nakamura (right), it was basically must-read stuff.
The pair really lived up to our expectations, too, with Kaz offering a lot of useful information about the future of the Gran Turismo franchise (especially the upcoming GT7 for Playstation 4), and Shiro promising to bring some interesting new ideas back to his colleagues at Nissan.

Recharge Wrap-up: Lucky fan to drive Porsche 918 Spyder, Avis Denmark has 861 Nissan EVs

A Tesla Model S customer shares his story of ownership over the course of 120,000 miles. Dante Richardson describes new software updates as being akin to anticipating the prize in a box of Cracker Jacks. Over the many miles he's driven the car, he has only learned to enjoy it more. "I don't know if it's the software updates or some of the other changes that have occurred with the car, but I find myself increasingly enamored and happy with the car as time has passed," Richardson says. His Volvo C70, in the meantime, usually sits idle as he opts to drive the Tesla. Read more at Tesla's website. A Facebook fan from Austria has won the opportunity to drive the Porsche 918 Spyder more than 622 miles. As part of a celebration for Porsche accumulating 10 million likes on the social media platform, Ingo Georges Vandenberghe will drive from London to the Porsche Experience Centre at Silverstone, via Wales and the Cotswolds, stopping occasionally to have other fans meet up to see and sign the car. It's a rare opportunity for the lucky driver, as every example of the high-performance Porsche hybrid has been sold. Read more at Hybrid Cars, and learn more about the celebration at Porsche's microsite. Avis Denmark now has the largest fleet of Nissan electric vehicles in Europe. The company has ordered 401 new Nissan e-NV200 vans and 60 Nissan Leafs for its leasing scheme. This is in addition to the 400 Leafs the Avis added to its fleet last year. "We had great success already with the Nissan Leaf in Denmark and we leased all of the units we purchased from Nissan very quickly, which has led to us ordering more," says Kasper Gjedsted, managing director of Avis Denmark. "To follow up that success we have decided to add the e-NV200 vehicle to broaden our offering and appeal to new types of customers." Read more in the press release below. AVIS ORDER CREATES EUROPE'S LARGEST FLEET OF NISSAN ELECTRIC VEHICLES - AVIS Denmark orders 401 Nissan e-NV200 vans and 60 Nissan LEAF electric cars - Combined with last year's order of 400 LEAFs, Avis now has largest EV fleet in Europe Copenhagen, 29th April 2015 - Nissan and AVIS Denmark have signed a deal to create the largest fleet of Nissan electric vehicles anywhere in Europe, with a new order of 401 Nissan e-NV200 vans and a further 60 units of the 100 percent electric Nissan LEAF.

Nissan to pull out of venture fund with Renault in cost-cutting drive, insiders say

TOKYO — Nissan is likely to pull out from a venture capital fund it runs with alliance partners Renault and Mitsubishi Motors, as part of the Japanese automaker's drive to cut costs and conserve cash, two sources said. Nissan will formally take a decision on whether to leave the fund, Alliance Ventures, by the end of this month, the two Nissan insiders told Reuters, declining to be identified because the information has not been made public. The likely move comes after Nissan's junior partner, Mitsubishi Motors Corp, told an alliance meeting last week that it would no longer continue to inject money into the fund, one of the sources said. The decision to leave the Amsterdam-based fund was all but a done deal, the other source said, adding: "Of course we're out. The house is on fire." A Nissan spokeswoman said it was speculation and declined to comment. A Mitsubishi spokesman said no decision had been made. The move comes as Nissan — which has seen its earnings slump — is now facing a downturn in China, its biggest market, due to the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. China sales plunged 80% last month. It also highlights the extent of the automaker's cost-cutting under new CEO Makoto Uchida, who is under pressure for a quick turnaround. Alliance Ventures is aimed at finding "learning opportunities" for the alliance through investing in startups, and is supposed get up to $200 million (153.3 million pounds) a year from the three alliance partners, although it never achieves that full amount, the first source said. It was set up under former alliance head Carlos Ghosn, whose dramatic arrest in Japan culminated in an escape to his childhood home of Lebanon in December. Ghosn faces multiple charges in Japan, including of under-reporting earnings and misappropriation of company funds, all of which he denies. According to its website, the fund was set up with a $200 million initial investment and aims for up to $1 billion by 2023. Portfolio companies include WeRide, a Chinese robo-taxi startup and Tekion Corp, a cloud-based retail platform for cars. "It wasn't established by Ghosn as a way to make money. It was for those learning opportunities we get from investing in smart startups," the first source said. "But given the tough financial situation we are facing, we are looking at investment return." Reporting by Norihiko Shirouzu; Editing by David Dolan/Louise Heavens/Susan Fenton.