2014 Nissan Titan Sv on 2040-cars

Auto blog

What to expect from the Japanese trial of Nissan and Greg Kelly

TOKYO — The criminal trial against Japanese automaker Nissan and its former executive Greg Kelly will open in Tokyo District Court on Tuesday. ItÂ’s the latest chapter in the unfolding scandal of Carlos Ghosn, a superstar at Nissan until he and Kelly were arrested in late 2018. Five questions and answers about the trial: Q: WHAT ARE THE ALLEGATIONS? A: The charges center around KellyÂ’s role in alleged under-reporting of GhosnÂ’s future compensation by about 9 billion yen ($85 million), a violation of financial laws. Kelly says he is innocent. Nissan, which is also similarly charged, has already acknowledged guilt, made corrections to the compensation documents submitted to the authorities, and has started paying a 2.4 billion yen ($22.6 million) fine. Q: WHAT HAPPENS TO GHOSN? A: Probably nothing. He skipped bail late last year and is now in Lebanon, which has no extradition treaty with Japan. Two Americans, Michael Taylor and his son Peter Taylor are being held in Massachusetts without bail, suspected of having helped Ghosn escape by hiding in a box on a private jet. A U.S. judge recently approved their extradition to Japan. The case is now before the U.S. State Department. Q: HOW DO CRIMINAL TRIALS PROCEED IN JAPAN? A: The trial, before a panel of three judges, is expected to take about a year. There is no jury. Juries are selected only for extremely serious cases in Japan, such as murder. In principle, there are no plea bargains although backroom deals are made all the time. Closed pre-trial sessions are held ahead of the trialÂ’s opening, often for months before the real trial begins. Japan's legal system has come under fire from both within and outside the country as “hostage justice” because suspects often are held for months and interrogated without a lawyer present, often leading to false confessions, according to critics. Q: WHAT ARE KELLYÂ’S CHANCES? A: More than 99% of criminal trials in Japan result in a conviction. Japanese Justice Minister Masako Mori, in an online presentation in English hosted by the Japanese Embassy in the U.S., argued the conviction rate is so high because Japan prosecutes only about a third of the cases that come up, choosing only those that “result in guilty verdicts.” She insisted there is a “presumption of innocence.” She declined comment on KellyÂ’s case.

Nissan, Mitsubishi team up for $14,000 electric car

Last November, the Renault-Nissan Alliance and Mitsubishi announced a partnership to build some tiny electric vehicles for the Japanese market. Well, the partnership is going to build more than that (like the Nissan Dayz, pictured above in Roox form, and the Mitsubishi eK wagon), but we're most interested in the upcoming plug-in results. Those results are not here yet, but we now know that the 50-50 joint venture is moving forward and that the first "kei car" EV from the project is now due in fiscal 2016, according to the Nikkei Asia Review. The makers of the popular Leaf and i-MiEV electric vehicles say that the new small EV will be the cheapest EV on the market when its released, potentially priced at 1.5 million yen (around $14,700 US). Currently, the i-MiEV is the cheapest EV option in Japan, with a 2.5-million yen starting price (just under $24,500 US) before incentives. Taking a good $10,000 of the purchase price is likely more than enough to counter the smaller size and, perhaps, more limited amenities. Featured Gallery 2014 Nissan Dayz Roox: Tokyo 2013 View 15 Photos News Source: Nikkei Asia Review Green Mitsubishi Nissan Renault Electric kei car

Daily Driver: 2016 Nissan 370Z

Daily Driver videos are micro-reviews of vehicles in the Autoblog press fleet, reviewed by the staffers that drive them every day. Today's Daily Driver features the 2016 Nissan 370Z, reviewed by Seyth Miersma. You can watch the video above or read a transcript below. And don't forget to watch more Autoblog videos at /videos. Show full video transcript text Hey, all. This is Seyth, and I'm behind the wheel of a 2016 Nissan 370Z. That's right, the Nissan 370Z is still for sale in the 2016 model year. It would be lying to say that this car is anything but old in the tooth. It's been around since around 2009 and it has been updated since then but not dramatically, so it's still essentially the same car. The version that I'm in is really the essential version of the same car. This is a base, base model. It's right around $30,000. The only options are for floor mats, which are $125, meaning you're getting the Z at its most distilled. For this car that means that it's still using the 3.7-liter naturally aspirated V6 engine. It's making 332 horsepower and 275 pound-feet of torque, figures which feel about seven years old. It's made it up to a six-speed manual transmission that does not have Nissan's SynchroRev Match technology on it. This is a nice, steady, short throw gearbox. It feels a little bit notchy if you're going really fast. Not the smoothest in the world but it really gets the job done. Even over the last couple days of driving, I've really grown to like it. Now what Nissan delivers with this car is a really pure-feeling sports car experience. It's not that heavy. It's about 33, 3,400 pounds, which makes it a few hundred lighter than a Mustang. It's a little bit heavier than the BRZ, FRS twins, but with more power as well. The steering is hydraulic power assist. It turns in really quickly and really nicely. It handles challenges of direction very well. Generally, this car on a curvy road in third gear is a really, really enjoyable thing. Of course you're not getting a lot in terms of refinement. There are people who definitely argue that the 370Z has never been a refined sports car ever, and a lot of people point to the engine and the exhaust that they don't like. Right now I'm just cruising around at 3,500 RPMs and it's got a low hum that is neither exciting nor quiet. There's a lot of tire roar.