2014 Nissan Altima 2.5 S on 2040-cars

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U.S. auto sales fall in July, as Detroit dials back on inventory, rental sales

DETROIT — U.S. carmakers said on Tuesday they continued to slash low-margin sales to daily rental fleets in July as General Motors, Ford and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles struggled to curb a slide in retail sales. July is on track to be the fifth straight month in which the annual pace of car and light truck sales declined from the same month a year ago, in part because of fewer fleet sales, analysts and industry executives said. July 2016 sales hit a strong 17.9-million-vehicle pace. GM said the seasonally adjusted annual sales rate fell to an estimated 16.9 million vehicles in July. At midmorning on Tuesday, GM shares were down 3.4 percent at $34.77, Ford was down 2.8 percent at $10.91, and Fiat Chrysler shares were down 0.3 percent at $12.05 in New York. GM sales dropped 15 percent from a year ago to 226,107 vehicles, as the company cut rental fleet sales more than 80 percent. The automaker said inventories of unsold vehicles at month's end were 104 days, down from 105 days at the end of June. GM has promised investors to reduce inventories to 70 days by year-end. Ford said its July sales dipped 7.5 percent to 200,212 vehicles, as it cut fleet sales more than 26 percent. Inventories fell to 77 days from 79 the previous month. Fiat Chrysler said sales dropped 10 percent to 161,477, as it also cut back sales to daily rental fleets. Among the top Japanese companies, only Toyota reported a year-to-year gain, with sales up 4 percent to 222,057 — just 4,000 units behind GM. Honda sales were down 1 percent to 150,980 — its first-quarter sales continuing to decline in North America but seeing a big increase in China. And Nissan sales fell 3 percent to 128,295. GM, Ford and Fiat Chrysler have cautioned that second-half financial results likely will be lower than first-half results, in part reflecting production cuts in North America and pricing pressures. The automakers this year have been deliberately dialing back sales to rental-car companies, which often generate little to no profit, while struggling to keep retail sales from sagging further, according to industry analysts. Industry consultant LMC cut its full-year forecast for new vehicle sales to 17 million vehicles. Automakers sold a record 17.55 million vehicles in the United States in 2016.

Nissan's Kelly examined at Japanese hospital after securing bail

TOKYO — Nissan director Greg Kelly was being examined in a hospital on Wednesday, a source said, a day after he was released on bail from a Tokyo jail where his former boss Carlos Ghosn is still being detained. Kelly, an American who was released late on Christmas Day after more than a month in detention, has been charged with conspiring to under-report Ghosn's income. He posted bail of 70 million yen ($640,000). Their Nov. 19 arrests jolted the global car industry and has strained Nissan's alliance with French car maker Renault SA. Nissan's board last month fired Ghosn as chairman and Kelly as representative director, although both men technically still remain board members who can only be removed by shareholders. Kelly suffers from spinal stenosis, causing numbness, tingling and shooting pain in his extremities, according to a video message last week from his wife, Dee Kelly, appealing for his release. The condition compresses or pinches the spinal cord. Those symptoms worsened during his five weeks in the Tokyo Detention Center, his wife said, citing Kelly's lawyer. Kelly was scheduled to have surgery on Dec. 7 in Nashville, Tennessee, but flew to Japan last month after being told that he was needed in person at a board meeting, Dee Kelly said in the video. Kelly was arrested soon after his arrival. Under the conditions of his bail, Kelly is barred from traveling overseas and his residence must be restricted to a designated place, the Tokyo District Court said. Lawyers say that travel exceptions can be made on a case-by-case basis. Kelly walked out of the detention center around 10:45 pm (1345 GMT) Thursday night wearing a light-colored jacket and was whisked away in a black taxi. Japanese media showed footage of Kelly entering a hospital around midnight. After his release from detention, Kelly issued a statement through his lawyer saying he had not falsified any documents and looked forward to restoring his honor in court. "I believe my innocence will be revealed in the trial," he said. Kelly also said in the statement he wanted to see a doctor immediately and get the appropriate treatment or operation originally scheduled for early December. The office of his lawyer, Yoichi Kitamura, did not respond to requests for comment. Ghosn was re-arrested on Friday based on suspicions that around October 2008 he shifted personal trades to Nissan to make it responsible for 1.85 billion yen ($16.6 million) in appraisal losses, prosecutors said.

Check out Nissan's clever digital Smart Rearview Mirror

Using cameras in place of a car's rearview mirrors has long been a feature of pie-in-the-sky concept cars, although so far, it's failed to translate into the world of production vehicles. Nissan is looking to change that, though, with its new Smart Rearview Mirror.
With a flick of a switch, drivers can jump back and forth between what they'd normally see through the rearview mirror and the camera's feed from the back of the car.
The Smart Rearview Mirror blends everything we know about traditional reflective glass mirrors with a video feed from the rear of the car into a form factor that's immediately recognizable to the average motorist. With a flick of a switch, drivers can jump back and forth between what they'd normally see through the rearview mirror and the camera's feed from the back of the car. The mirror itself features an integrated LCD display with a four-to-one aspect ratio.