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First new Datsun in decade sketched, set for Indian reveal

Nissan's Datsun nameplate revival will begin with two models bound for the Indian market. Nissan has released sketches of a five-door hatchback based on the Micra (codenamed K2) and a top-down view of a hood that could potentially be from a sedan.
The company's press release says all will be revealed on July 15 in New Delhi, India. The Datsun lineup will be first offered in 2014 to that country's ride-deprived residents as well as Indonesia and Russia. Later in 2014, South Africa will join the list.
We've heard Nissan plans for Datsuns to share platforms with company-owned Lada. In January, we heard the projected price tag could be around $3,000 USD to compete with Chinese imports. The official press release (which can be read in full below) says nothing about either of these reports, however.

Nissan Sport Sedan Concept foretells a future Maxima

Nissan is in the midst of overhauling its design language. We got our first glimpse at the direction its style was going a year ago with the Resonance crossover concept, which was followed in Shanghai by the connected-car Friend-Me hatchback concept. And now, after dropping a few hints, Nissan has revealed the third in this developing series.
Unveiled at today's Detroit Auto Show, the new Sport Sedan Concept applies many of the same design elements we've seen on Nissan's previous show cars to a more conventional four-door shape. But far from a design exercise, the decidedly uncreatively named Sport Sedan Concept previews "a future production sports sedan," which has every indication of being the next Maxima.
Its dimensions reveal the concept to be bigger than the current Maxima in every direction but height, with that visual impression further entrenched by a floating roof design that combines with a high waistline to give a coupe-like profile. There are also sharp creases in the bodywork that visually break up the space between the rear set of 21-inch alloys and the tapered greenhouse. The shape is further punctuated by the V-shaped grille and distinctly Nissan boomerang-shaped lights that lend a face to this distinctly Japanese design that was penned in California and honed back in Japan. The sharp and simple cabin is characterized by a high-contrast palette with quilted leather and metallic trim.

Nissan's Ghosn highest paid exec in Japan again, at $10M per year

Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn is on track to be the highest-paid executive in Japan for the fourth time in five years. Ghosn's salary and bonuses last year rang the register to the tune of $9.8 million (995 million yen), and when stock dividends are added to the equation, the exec's total pay crested a billion yen. That represents a 0.7-percent increase over his pay from the previous year. Ghosn earned an additional $3.1 million as CEO of Renault.
According to Bloomberg, Ghosn's compensation was announced at a shareholder's meeting in Japan, prompting an explanation from the CEO. "I understand the sensitivity of the issue," Ghosn said. "Being in Japan should not be a handicap to attract talent. We need the best minds, we need the best talents."
Few would argue with that assessment, we'd guess, but it doesn't answer the question of whether Ghosn is the most talented CEO in Japan. Akio Toyoda, head of Toyota in Japan, earned 230 yen (though, as a large shareholder in Toyota, Toyoda's dividend payments bring him closer to Ghosn) in compensation while steering his automaker to a profit that was five times higher than Nissan's. Honda President Takanobu Ito was paid the comparatively small sum of 150 million yen last year.