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NYC Taxi of Tomorrow ruled legal by appeals court

The streets of New York City might be filling up with a lot more Nissans in the next few years. A New York appeals court ruled that the city's mandate to replace old taxis with a fleet entirely made up of the Nissan NV200 Taxi of Tomorrow was legal. The decision overturned a previous ruling that decided The Big Apple couldn't force cabbies to all purchase the same vehicle.
Justice David B. Saxe wrote the court's opinion saying the Taxi of Tomorrow is a "legally appropriate response to the agency's statutory obligation to produce a 21st-century taxicab consistent with the broad interests and perspectives that the agency is charged with protecting," according to Bloomberg. The Greater New York Taxi Association, the plaintiff in the case, could still possibly attempt a second appeal.
Nissan originally won the 10-year contract estimated to be worth about $1 billion in 2011, beating out Ford and a Turkish company. Under the Taxi of Tomorrow plan, all New York cabbies would have to switch to the NV200 within three of five years of the van going into service, and it would replace the 16 vehicles previously authorized as taxis. In 2013, the mandate received multiple challenges though, including an attempted ban by cab drivers because the replacement wasn't a hybrid. In a separate case, state Supreme Court judge Schlomo Hagler decided that there was nothing in the city charter that forced a taxi driver to choose a specific vehicle. This was the case that was just overturned. In the meantime, the automaker has been selling the NV200 to New York cabbies at prices around $29,700.

Nissan IDx Nismo and IDx Freeflow concepts are a bridge to the Datsun 510

We're not sure if someone from The Adjustment Bureau stopped by Nissan's PR department to explain the IDx Nismo and IDx Freeflow concepts, but the company's odd press release can't diminish our love for these two show favorites. We had been told to look out for an unnamed Datsun 510 BRE homage, and once we saw the brothers IDx, we knew we'd found them. But the press release doesn't mention anything about the Datsun 510 Brock Racing Enterprises, nor does it mention one Mr. Peter Brock, the man who won two Trans-Am championships in the Seventies for the nascent Japanese budget brand.
Instead, it declares that the cars were the result of a co-creation product development process with "digital natives," said natives being the whippersnappers born after 1990. Nissan says it worked with the young'uns to create two different expressions of "their desire for a basic, authentic configuration for a car." If that's true, it appears that what the kiddies really want are... two different homages to the Datsun 510 BRE that Peter Brock used to win two championships in the seventies for the nascent Japanese brand.
The IDx Freeflow - the "ID" is for "identification," the "x" is "the variable representing the new values and dreams born through communication" - takes the casual approach, with a light khaki exterior hue, a minimalist interior decked out in denim and a console shifter that works a continuously variable transmission. The IDx Nismo is out for blood, from its crimson interior to its five-point harness to its bolt-on flares and sidepipes. We aren't told what the digital natives requested for powerplants, but that's alright; if this is what "co-creation" looks like, we're not entirely against it except where that "CVT" is involved.

Nissan Leaf Nismo RC Concept [w/video]

Nissan took the wraps off its Leaf Nismo RC Concept at the New York Auto Show more than two years ago. As inferred, the vehicle shares many of its pure-EV components with the production Leaf currently sitting in your dealer's showroom. But don't assume the concept is a placid, family friendly, four-place, front-wheel-drive plug-in for grabbing groceries - the RC (as in "Racing Challenge") is a purpose-built, two-seat, rear-wheel-drive prototype race car tuned for the short track.
The RC Concept is fitted with an 80-kW AC synchronous motor driving the rear wheels and drawing power from a 48-module lithium-ion battery. While the motor and battery are nearly identical to the consumer-friendly Leaf, a sleek full carbon-fiber monocoque body shell and a slew of other enhancements mean the RC is 40-percent lighter, a foot shorter in overall height and nearly seven inches wider than its commuter namesake. Nissan says the RC Concept will hit 62 miles per hour in about 6.8 seconds, top out at 93 mph and run for about 20 minutes under race conditions (it will accept an 80-percent charge in 30 minutes with a quick-charger). Understandably, if a zero-emissions motorsport series comes to fruition, the races would be short and nearly silent.
We caught up with the Leaf Nismo RC concept in Southern California, where we were offered the opportunity to zip it around a tight autocross at the former Marine Corps Air Station, El Toro.