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Renault, Nissan, Mitsubishi announce 35 new EVs by 2030

Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi are going all-in on EVs. The trio announced plans to release 35 new electric models globally by 2030, ranging from Japan-only kei cars to commercial vehicles, and they sketched out plans to develop next-generation solid-state batteries. The three carmakers will leverage the benefits of economies of scale to keep development and production costs in check. Many of the Alliance's models already ride on a common platform; the Nissan Sentra shares its bones with the third-generation Renault Scenic. Looking ahead, the plan is to build 80% of the cars in the group's global portfolio on common architectures. Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi are massive companies with a wide lineup of models, so there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Instead, the strategy focuses on five basic modular platforms. CMF-AEV will be for so-called affordable electric cars. KEI-EV will be primarily for kei cars, LCV will underpin commercial vehicles, and CMF-EV was designed to underpin mainstream models including the Ariya. Finally, the CMF-BEV platform will underpin about 250,000 electric cars annually starting in 2024. These include the production version of the retro-styled 5 Prototype introduced in January 2021, at least one car assigned to the Alpine brand, and a replacement for the Micra (previewed above) that will be engineered and built by Renault. Most of these cars will be equipped with a lithium-ion battery pack; that's likely going to remain the best way to power an electric car in the coming years. However, Nissan has been tasked with developing solid-state battery technology that promises to greatly reduce charging times. A solid state battery is tentatively scheduled to enter production by the middle of 2028, though it's too early to tell which model(s) will inaugurate it. Digital services will play a significant role in the Alliance's future lineup as well. By 2026, Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi plan to connect 25 million cars to their cloud and over 10 million vehicles fitted with "autonomous driving systems" (a vague term that wasn't defined). All told, these investments will cost the group at least ˆ23 billion (around $26 billion at the current conversion rate) in the next five years. What does this mean for America?

Japan minister launches counterattack after Ghosn blasts justice system

TOKYO — Japan's justice minister launched a rare and forceful public takedown of auto executive-turned-fugitive Carlos Ghosn after he blasted the country's legal system as allowing him "zero chance" of a fair trial as he sought to justify his escape to Beirut. After his dramatic flight to Lebanon last month, Ghosn spoke in public for the first time on Wednesday, saying he had been treated "brutally" by Tokyo prosecutors. He said they questioned him for up to eight hours a day without a lawyer present and tried to extract a confession out of him. In an effort to undo Ghosn's attempt to sway public opinion in his favor, Justice Minister Masako Mori followed shortly with a statement, translated into English and French, and held a news conference after midnight and again around 9:30 a.m. on Thursday morning to defend Japan's justice system. "I decided to do this because defendant Ghosn was looking to justify his unlawful exit from Japan by propagating a false recognition of our justice system," she said at the second news conference. "I felt that we needed to respond immediately to broadcast a correct understanding to people around the world." Ghosn, the former chief of Nissan and Renault, fled Japan last month as he was awaiting trial on charges of under-reporting earnings, breach of trust, and misappropriation of company funds, all of which he denies. Mori said Ghosn's escape from his trial in itself "could constitute a crime" that would not be tolerated in any country. "My impression in listening to him was that there were few statements that were backed by any real evidence," she said. "If he wants to prove his innocence, he should face fair trial proceedings here," she added, stressing that the allegations against him concerned financial crimes in Japan. "That would be the mark of a first-class businessperson and good citizen." Mori blasted Ghosn for violating his bail by fleeing the country "without showing a passport and breaking international rules that everyone in the world follows." "It was a breach of faith that can't be explained to our children," she said. The spotlight on Japan's justice system comes as Mori is set to host in April the United Nations' Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, held once every five years.

Brand new cars are being sold with defective Takata airbags

If you just bought a 2016 Audi TT, 2017 Audi R8, 2016–17 Mitsubishi i-MiEV, or 2016 Volkswagen CC, we have some unsettling news for you. A report provided to a US Senate committee that oversees the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and reported on by Automotive News claims these vehicles were sold with defective Takata airbags. And it gets worse. Toyota and FCA are called out in the report for continuing to build vehicles that will need to be recalled down the line for the same issue. That's not all. The report also states that of the airbags that have been replaced already in the Takata recall campaign, 2.1 million will need to eventually be replaced again. They don't have the drying agent that prevents the degradation of the ammonium nitrate, which can lead to explosions that can destroy the airbag housing and propel metal fragments at occupants. So these airbags are out there already. We're not done yet. There's also a stockpile of about 580,000 airbags waiting to be installed in cars coming in to have their defective airbags replaced. These 580k airbags also don't have the drying agent. They'll need to be replaced down the road, too. A new vehicle with a defective Takata airbag should be safe to drive, but that margin of safety decreases with time. If all this has you spinning around in a frustrated, agitated mess, there's a silver lining that is better than it sounds. So take a breath, run your fingers through your hair, and read on. Our best evidence right now demonstrates that defective Takata airbags – those without the drying agent that prevents humidity from degrading the ammonium nitrate propellant – aren't dangerous yet. It takes a long period of time combined with high humidity for them to reach the point where they can rupture their housing and cause serious injury. It's a matter of years, not days. So a new vehicle with a defective Takata airbag should be safe to drive, but that margin of safety decreases with time – and six years seems to be about as early as the degradation happens in the worst possible scenario. All this is small comfort for the millions of people who just realized their brand-new car has a time bomb installed in the wheel or dashboard, or the owners who waited patiently to have their airbags replaced only to discover that the new airbag is probably defective in the same way (although newer and safer!) as the old one.