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Ghosn: Restoring Mitsubishi's reputation is biggest challenge

After news that Mitsubishi falsified its fuel economy data on every vehicle it has sold in Japan since 1991, and the tumble in the company's value that followed, the troubled carmaker has an unlikely savior. Nissan has confirmed it will purchase over one third of Mitsubishi's stock, or 34 percent. The stake is valued at $2.2 billion. Ghosn says making Mitsubishi a part of the Renault-Nissan alliance will save billions in development costs. But the merger certainly isn't without challenges. "The biggest challenge is to support Mitsubishi changing itself and growing and being profitable and restoring its reputation," said Ghosn. Nissan is a natural partner for Mitsubishi, and since the fuel economy scandal escalated from discrepancies in the data regarding Mitsubishi-manufactured, Nissan-badged Japan-market vehicles, it makes sense for the company to sweep in and save the day. Nissan itself is partially owned by Renault, and Nissan has a 15-percent stake in the French automaker. Mitsubishi's chairman, Osamu Masuko says that the merger was inevitable, that it "would have happened one day" anyway, according to the New York Times. Carlos Ghosn, chairman of both Nissan and Renault, is confident they will be able to turn Mitsubishi's fortunes around. "We have the track record to make it work", Ghosn said, referring to the Renault-funded rescue of Nissan in the early 2000s. Related Video:

Nissan Murano production fires up in America for first time [w/video]

Production of the new, third-generation Nissan Murano has finally kicked off at the company's Canton, MS factory, marking not only the eighth vehicle built on the facility's lines, but also the first global product to be built there since it opened in 2003.
"The strategic investments that Nissan has made in Canton serve as a testament to the flexibility, efficiency and talent of our workforce and suppliers," said John Martin, Nissan's boss for manufacturing, supply chain management and purchasing. "In Canton, we build high-quality vehicles that compete and win globally, and the bold new Murano will build on that reputation."
The addition of Murano production, which joins Altima, Armada, Titan, Frontier, Xterra and NV, brought a further 1,300 jobs.

Takata adds millions to recall expansion in US [UPDATE]

UPDATE: Ford spokesperson Kelli Felker has advised Autoblog that of the 1,509,535 total vehicles worldwide that the company is recalling, 966,504 of them are new additions for this expanded safety campaign. Last week, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced that the Takata airbag inflator recalls would expand to an estimated 33.8 million vehicles in the US. However at the time, automakers weren't sure specifically which of their models might be affected under this enlarged campaign. Now, the numbers for BMW, FCA, Ford, and Mitsubishi are being released by the agency. Additionally, Honda is outlining the broadening of its own campaign. BMW's recall amounts to 420,661 vehicles in the US, an increase from 140,696 previously. All of the following models need their front, driver's side airbag replaced: 2002-2005 BMW 325i/325xi/330i/330xi Sedan 2002-2005 BMW 325xi/325i Sportswagon 2002-2006 BMW 330Ci/325Ci/M3 Convertible 2002-2006 BMW 325i/330i/M3 Coupe 2002-2003 BMW M5/540i/525i/530i Sedan 2002-2003 BMW 540i/525i Sportswagon 2003-2004 BMW X5 3.0i/4.4i BMW has received no reports of any injures or deaths from this problem in its vehicles. FCA has 5,224,845 vehicles globally in need of inflator replacements, according to its statement. However, the company is only aware of one injury related to the issue, which occurred in a 2006 Dodge Charger in southern Florida. There are 4,747,202 vehicles worldwide from the company that are affected on the front, driver's side. Among these, 4,066,732 are in the US, 374,508 are in Canada, and the rest are in other countries. The models are: 2005-2009 Dodge Ram 2500 Pickup 2004-2008 Dodge Ram 1500 Pickup 2006-2009 Dodge Ram 3500 Pickup 2007-2009 Dodge Ram 3500 Cab Chassis 2008-2010 Dodge Ram 4500/5500 Cab Chassis 2008-2009 Sterling 4500/5500 Cab Chassis 2004-2008 Dodge Durango 2007-2008 Chrysler Aspen 2005-2010 Chrysler 300/300C/SRT8 2005-2010 Dodge Charger/Magnum 2005-2011 Dodge Dakota 2006-2010 Mitsubishi Raider Also, there are 438,156 vehicles in the US, according to the NHTSA documents, that need their front passenger's side inflators replaced in the expansion of an earlier regional recall: 2003 Dodge Ram 1500 2003 Dodge Ram 2500 2003 Dodge Ram 3500 The total number of vehicles from Ford now covered under these campaigns stands at 1,509,535 worldwide. Of this total, there are 1,380,604 in the United States, 93,207 in Canada and 16,953 in Mexico.