1994 Mitsubishi 3000gt Base Coupe 2-door 3.0l on 2040-cars

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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?

Mitsubishi dealers would really like a truck to sell

While Mitsubishi is switching gears to focus on crossovers, that won't address a market that its dealers would like to be in. While answering questions from the press last night, Don Swearingen, executive vice president and COO of Mitsubishi's North American office, mentioned that its US dealers have a pickup truck high on their "shopping lists." In fact, he said that a truck is pretty much at the top. Mitsubishi does already have a small pickup truck it sells in foreign markets, badged as the Triton or L200. However, Swearingen said that just because dealers want a truck doesn't mean it's going to happen, citing various obstacles to bringing one to market. If, for example, Mitsubishi brought over the Triton, the company would have to go through the long, expensive process of certifying it for US safety and emissions regulations, not to mention making sure it fulfilled American buyers' demands. There's also the Chicken Tax, which levees a steep tariff on trucks built outside of the US and imported in. One possible way Mitsubishi could circumvent all of those issues, though, would be to leverage its new partnership with Nissan. Nissan already sells Frontier small pickups in the US, and Mitsubishi could simply redesign that model to suit its style. It's something that both companies are familiar with as well. Mitsubishi previously sold a restyled Dodge Dakota as the Raider, and Nissan allowed Suzuki to rebrand the Frontier to be sold as the Equator for a short time. It would certainly be a quick way to get into the truck market. However, Mitsubishi would also need to decide if such a product would actually be profitable, in addition to satisfying dealers. Related Video:

Nissan slashes profit forecast as Ghosn arrest hurts brand appeal

TOKYO — Nissan cut its profit forecast for the fiscal year through March on Wednesday to reflect slowing sales, higher costs and the fallout from a criminal investigation of its former chairman, Carlos Ghosn. Nissan Motor Co. expects to post a 319 billion yen ($2.9 billion) profit for the fiscal year, marking a 22% drop from its earlier 410 billion yen ($3.7 billion) forecast. Nissan said the downgrade reflects higher costs in the U.S. from a warranty extension campaign for some vehicles and falling sales due to "corporate issues," alluding to the Ghosn scandal. Ghosn was arrested in November and is facing charges of underreporting his income and breach of trust. He says he is innocent. He was released on bail in March and is awaiting another court decision on bail after his re-arrest on April 4. Nissan, which is allied with Renault SA of France, has seen sales lag in France and Japan, where Ghosn is widely known. In the U.S. and China, buyers aren't as affected by the scandal, but the markets there overall have slowed. Other factors contributed to the revision, such as production not keeping up with demand for the Note, an extremely popular model in Japan. But the high-profile scandal has weakened the brand appeal of the maker of the Leaf electric car, Infiniti luxury model and X-trail sports utility vehicle. Nissan said it expects to sell 5.5 million vehicles in this fiscal year. Earlier it predicted it would sell 5.6 million. The company sold nearly 5.8 million vehicles in the fiscal year that ended in March 2018. The automaker reduced its sales outlook by 0.2% for the fiscal year through March 2019 to 11.5 trillion yen ($103 billion), compared to its previous forecast. It was Nissan's second downgrade for its outlook following one in February that cited faltering sales in China and the U.S. At that time, Nissan also logged costs about 9.2 billion yen ($83 million) related to the alleged underreporting of Ghosn's compensation. Nissan has promised to strengthen its corporate governance to prevent a recurrence of what it says is serious wrongdoing by Ghosn. Ghosn was sent by Nissan's French alliance partner, Renault SA, to help turn the Japanese automaker around when it was near bankruptcy 20 years ago. The future of the alliance is one of many questions clouding Nissan's future following Ghosn's ouster since he was the main liaison for the alliance, which includes smaller Japanese automaker Mitsubishi Motors.