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Infiniti's new Design Director is American Alfonso Albaisa

The man responsible for creating the sleek 2010 Nissan Ellure Concept you see above is now the design director for Infiniti. Alfonso Albaisa (shown at right) has been a member of the Nissan design team for 25 years, but was recently promoted to executive design director for the Infiniti brand.
His past roles at Nissan have included design director for Nissan from 2004 to 2007, vice president of Nissan Design Europe from 2007 to 2011, vice president of Nissan Design America in 2011 and, most recently, he held the title of Nissan's global design director. Aside from Ellure, Albaisa was also responsible for designing the 2012 Nissan Xtrem Concept, "key strategic production vehicles soon to be launched" and he's even contributed to a handful of Infiniti designs. Scroll down for the official press release.

Renault, Nissan and Hyundai face shutdowns in India over workers' COVID fears

CHENNAI, India — Automakers Renault, its alliance partner Nissan and Hyundai face temporary factory closures in India due to growing unrest among workers concerned about rising COVID-19 infections. Workers at Renault-Nissan's car plant in the southern state of Tamil Nadu will go on strike on Wednesday because their COVID-related safety demands have not been met, a union representing the workers told the company in a letter on Monday. Hyundai said it would suspend operations at its plant, also in Tamil Nadu, for five days starting Tuesday, after several workers staged a brief, sit-in protest on Monday amid rising cases in the state. "The management agreed to close the plant after workers expressed concerns over safety after two employees succumbed to COVID," E. Muthukumar, president of the Hyundai Motor India Employees Union, told Reuters. The unrest highlights the challenges companies face in India amid a huge wave of COVID-19 infections, an overwhelmed health system and a shortage of vaccines which is making employees more fearful. Tamil Nadu is one of the worst hit states with more than 30,000 cases a day last week. The state, an auto hub known as India's Detroit, has imposed a lockdown until May 31 but allowed some factories, including auto plants, to continue operating. The strike threat at the Renault-Nissan plant came ahead of a court hearing on Monday over allegations from workers that social distancing norms were being flouted and factory health policies did not sufficiently address the risk to lives. Renault-Nissan has said it is following COVID-19 safety protocols. At the hearing, a lawyer for the workers argued that while the company had reduced the number of shifts, production numbers had not been cut and the headcount remained the same leading to crowding on the factory floor. The company told the court it had reduced the workforce to around 5,000 from 8,000. It also said it had vaccinated employees over 45 and was willing to inoculate those under 45 if vaccines were made available. The two-judge bench presiding over the case said that while the health of workers is paramount, if industries go down there will be no place for them to work. They also said the company must not take advantage of the exemption granted by the state and should reduce production to meet only necessary export orders. "The production should have fallen ... You also have to assuage the feeling of the workers," said the court, which will next hear the case on May 31.

Nissan delays GT-R LM Nismo's return to WEC after poor Le Mans showing

After a catastrophic run at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June and a widely publicized review of the program, Nissan is delaying the GT-R LM Nismo prototype's next showing in the World Endurance Championship season. The team will continue testing and working out the car's crippling issues. "We know people will be disappointed, but be assured that nobody is more disappointed than us," Shoichi Miyatani, the president of Nismo, said in a statement. "We are racers and we want to compete, but we also want to be competitive. That is why we have chosen to continue our test program and prepare the GT-R LM Nismo for the strong competition we face in the World Endurance Championship. When you innovate, you don't give up at the first hurdle. We are committed to overcoming this challenge." The big issue for the GT-R at Le Mans was its Energy Recovery System. Its failure meant the racer was forced to rely on engine power alone, hobbling the program significantly. "We have many areas to work on – not least ensuring that we have the best ERS option available to us. The team is pushing hard on track, in the wind tunnel and at Nismo's various facilities around the world to deliver the long list of improvements we know that we need," Ben Bowlby, Nissan LM P1 technical director, said in a statement. The GT-R was met with skepticism upon its debut, thanks to the way it eschewed the hallmarks of most successful racers. Not only was the engine in front – a rarity in the past four or so decades of prototypes – but it also sent its power to the front wheels. And it was a lot – 1,250 hp to be precise, with 700 hp coming from electric motors alone. Despite this frankly absurd output, the competition from Porsche, Audi, and Toyota easily bested the GT-R LM Nismos. Scroll down for the official press release from Nissan. Nissan to address technical issues of LM P1 car before returning to World Endurance Championship Nissan GT-R LM NISMO to remain in test program before re-joining World Endurance Championship LONDON – Nissan today announced that it will delay its return to the LM P1 class of the FIA World Endurance Championship and instead focus on technical issues that challenged its race team during the Le Mans 24 Hours. Issues with the energy recovery system (ERS) meant that Nissan had to run at the Le Mans 24 Hours on engine power alone.