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Nissan Safari police truck a sort of A-Team van from Japan

Television today might be at one the best points in the medium's history with shows like Mad Men, Louie, True Detective and streaming offerings like House of Cards. However, none of those come close to the number of car chases and explosions of '70s and '80s offerings like Charlie's Angels, The A-Team or The Dukes of Hazard. Apparently, this prevalence of action at the time wasn't just an American phenomenon. In Japan, a show called Seibu Keisatsu fulfilled the nation's need for shootouts and stunts.
Nissan was a major sponsor of the show, and therefore the brand's vehicles were used extensively, including a highly modified Nissan Safari SUV (also known as the Nissan Patrol), pictured above. In the show's lore, it was equipped with radar, a camera and a fire extinguisher capable of turning over a car. The series ran 236 episodes from 1979 to 1984, and with the trailer below as indication, that allowed time for plenty of car jumps and explosions.
The entire Seibu Keisatsu series is now coming out in Japan on DVD and Blu-Ray packed in a fake gun case. The trailer below shows off some of the action of the series. It all starts out normal enough, but about a minute into the video there are all sorts of Nissans jumping and crashing. Plus, there is a guy on fire in a shootout. This show looks like some seriously cheesy fun. Scroll down to get a taste of it.

Nissan Leaf sets another monthly sales record, Chevy Volt remains steady

Here we go again. Another month in the books and another month of record sales by the Nissan Leaf in the US. For October, the world's best-selling pure EV sold 2,589 units, which is 29.3 percent more than October 2013. That makes it 20 times in a row that Nissan can say that last month sales were better than the same month a year before. All told, Nissan has sold 24,411 Leafs in the US this year, a new record, reflecting an overall Leaf sales rate that is up 35 percent, year-to-date. Nissan isn't stopping, either. A new TV ad, one that, "encourages consumers to kick gas" by saving money on fuel will start airing today in major markets, according to Toby Perry, director of Nissan's EV marketing. You can watch it below. As for the Chevy Volt, things remained steady last month in the face of a new model that's coming in the second half of 2015. Chevy sold 1,439 Volts last month, which is about the same as September (1,394) but down 28.8 percent from the October 2013 despite GM having its best overall US October sales this year since 2007. So far, 2014 Volt year-to-date sales are down 14.9 percent through the end of October compared to 2013. And that wraps up the flash report on monthly sales for these two long-standing plug-in vehicles in the US market. As always, we'll have our in-depth write-up of US green car sales available soon. For now, we await your comments, below. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Recharge Wrap-up: BMW i3 to get more range, a call for EV signage

The BMW i3 will get more range next year, and BMW will announce another i model soon. BMW CEO Harald Kruger didn't say by how much the i3's electric range would be expanded (it currently gets 81 miles on a single charge, or 150 with the range extender). He did say that a third, yet unnamed i car would be out "soon," and that it would be larger than the i3. We've heard rumors of an i5 for years now and BMW has previously stated that a new i car would not be based on an existing model. Read more at Green Car Reports. Where is the sun visor in the Tesla Model X? With a huge panoramic glass roof, Tesla had to be pretty inventive with its design. The sun visor is tucked away in the A-pillar and held in place by a magnet. It pulls out, and swivels overhead. A magnetic peg pops out to attach the end of the visor to the rear view mirror housing. From there, it can be rotated, or one can flip out a panel to create a larger shade. The vanity mirror is hidden behind another panel inside the visor. Have a look over at Teslarati. Nissan and Ecotricity are calling on the UK government to create road signage for EV charging points. There are currently over 9,000 places for drivers to charge their electric vehicles throughout the UK, but no official signage to tell them where they are. "It's time to introduce charging point road signs in Britain," says Ecotricity founder Dale Vince. "They'll provide necessary direction for the thousands of electric car drivers in Britain as well as increasing public awareness that the infrastructure is ready for them to make the move to an electric car." Nissan and Ecotricity suggest that symbols to designate the different types of charging available would also be helpful to EV drivers. Read more at Green Car Congress, or in the press release below.