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'Taxi of Tomorrow' is finally reality in New York

The Nissan NV200 has had quite a rough ride to becoming New York City's Taxi of Tomorrow. The vans actually went on sale in late 2013, but Nissan's $1 billion deal to be the Big Apple's exclusive cab has faced an ongoing fight with drivers and politicians there. However, the roadblocks have been cleared, and the yellow vans finally became the city's official taxi on September 1. New Yorkers might not notice the change anytime soon, though. According to The New York Times, there are currently about 750 NV200s servicing the city out of 13,000 yellow cabs. The number of vans should rise quickly because up to 3,000 drivers replace their well-worn vehicles each year. Eventually the Taxi of Tomorrow will make up about 80 percent of the fleet, while the rest will be hybrid or wheelchair-accessible models. The challenge against the van largely focused on forcing most drivers into just a single model. At times the court agreed that the monopoly was unfair. The deal was even rendered void at one point. According to The New York Times, it took a decision in June to finally grant permission for the full NV200 agreement. The challenges to the NV200's large-scale adoption aren't over yet, though because the introduction comes at a challenging time for the New York taxi industry. Ridesharing apps, particularly Uber, are luring both riders and some yellow cab drivers to the tech company. While the Taxi of Tomorrow offers amenities like a panoramic sunroof and a cellphone charging, there are reportedly more Uber cars than traditional taxis currently at work in the Big Apple.

Nissan IDx 'in the plan' for production, needs support from fans [w/poll]

If there's a trend in the auto industry we can firmly get behind, it's the small, light and affordable rear-drive coupe. The positive critical reception to the Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ twins has encouraged other manufacturers to look at building their own rear drivers, and even a few to show actual concept cars based on the idea. The Chevrolet Code 130R from 2012 and more recently, the Nissan IDx twins that were first shown at the 2013 Tokyo Motor Show both come to mind, as does the brand-new Kia GT4 Stinger Concept.
Nissan trotted out the IDx Nismo and the IDx Freeflow for another showing in Detroit and we'll admit to being totally smitten with both cars. Again. The duo draw inspiration from the iconic Datsun 510, a lightweight, affordable rear-driver that remains a cult favorite decades after production ended.
Now, a report from our friends at AutoWeek reveals that we may, possibly, hopefully see a production IDx, provided fans make a strong enough case for it. "It's in the plan," Nissan product boss Andy Palmer told AW. According to the report, Palmer said the IDx is "into the first sage of the development process. The next stage is project validation and then looking at the business case. It's no one's intent to waste millions of the company's money, so obviously we have a good feeling about this one."

Mitsubishi and Renault-Nissan expand partnership, US will get new sedan

Mitsubishi and Renault-Nissan have just inked an alliance that might, hopefully, reverse the ailing fortunes of the Mitsubishi brand in the US market. The big chunk of news is that Mitsubishi will produce two Renualt-based models for sale in the US market, and that they'll be built at the Renault-Samsung factory in Busan, South Korea.
The plans call for a D-segment sedan to be followed by a C-segment offering. Based on the cars built at the Busan factory, that means Mitsubishi will be getting the SM5 and the SM3, a pair of handsome sedans that are based on Renault-Nissan's D and C platforms, respectively. These same platforms underpin a number of US market Nissans (not to mention a number of cars from Renault), namely the Pathfinder, Maxima, Quest and Murano for the D platform and the last-generation Rogue and Sentra for the C platform.
Besides the sedan production, Nissan and Mitsubishi will be expanding their joint-venture company, NMKV, which produces Kei cars for the Japanese market. A new, all-electric offering will be born from the partnership, likely based on a Kei car platform. The partnership between the three brands will also lead to increased sharing of technology, particularly relating to electric cars.