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Nissan 370Z Nismo Roadster Concept looks ready to roll

Honestly, we're kind of surprised this hasn't happened already. The Nissan 370Z Nismo is a pretty cool little package, better than ever in its 2015 model year iteration. So why not apply that same, go-faster, look-cooler formula to the topless Z Roadster? That's exactly what Nissan's done here in Chicago, showing the 370Z Nismo Roadster you see here. Aesthetically, it's pretty much the same as the coupe – except, of course, for the folding cloth roof that neatly stows behind the front seats. It's mechanically the same, too, with Nissan's 3.7-liter naturally aspirated V6 underhood, making 350 horsepower. Oddly, the concept car uses the company's seven-speed automatic transmission, but as Nissan explains, the majority of Z Roadster buyers spec their cars with the slushbox. "While it is only a design study at this point, we think the 370Z Nismo Roaster Concept would be a tremendous addition to the long and distinguished history of Z sports cars," Pierre Loing, Nissan's vice president of product planning in North America, said in a press release. It sure looks production-ready to us. Nissan 370Z NISMO Roadster Concept makes world debut at 2015 Chicago Auto Show - Combines legendary NISMO performance, style and technology with Nissan 370Z Roadster open-air motoring excitement - One-off design study created to gauge market interest in an ultimate factory Z® Roadster - Offers unique engine, suspension, exterior and interior features versus standard Nissan 370Z Roadster models – including 350-horsepower 3.7-liter V6 and NISMO-tuned suspension - Would join current Nissan 370Z NISMO coupe model, expanding NISMO lineup to five models As the heart and soul of Nissan performance for both the track and on the street, NISMO continues to set the standard for straight-from-the-factory enthusiast vehicles. The lineup of NISMO production models for 2015 includes the GT-R NISMO, 370Z NISMO, JUKE NISMO and JUKE NISMO RS. Yet as the popularity of NISMO models continues to grow – the 2015 GT-R NISMO is sold out, the 370Z NISMO accounts for 20 percent of total sales and JUKE NISMO models for about 15 percent – one group of performance enthusiast remains left out: Open-air sports car lovers. Enter the Nissan 370Z NISMO Roadster Concept, which makes its world debut at the 2015 Chicago Auto Show. The custom vehicle combines the long list of 370Z NISMO Coupe performance equipment with a modified 370Z Roadster body and interior.

Datsun to unveil second model later this month

Datsun, Nissan's new sub-brand for emerging markets, has announced plans to unveil its second model. Its first, the Go, was unveiled almost two months ago, and promised affordable, connected motoring for five in a handsome hatchback body. Datsun is following that up with a pair of new models for Indonesia.
The first of these two new vehicles will be shown on September 17 in Jakarta, eschewing the typical auto show debut. It's targeted at so-called "risers," the nickname for a group of highly aspirational customers in the Indonesian market. Datsun developed it locally with help from Nissan, and it'll cost under 100 million Indonesian rupiah (about $8,900 at today's rates).
We'll have the full boatload of information on the newest member of the Datsun family when it debuts on September 17. Scroll on to read the full press release from Datsun.

Nissan sees its EV sales surging to 1 million annually by 2022

YOKOHAMA, Japan — Nissan announced plans to sell 1 million electric vehicles (EVs) annually by 2022, a six-fold jump from what it sold last year, and said it had no plans to stop testing its self-driving cars on public roads, calling them safe. Japan's No. 2 automaker and its rivals are planning to crank up development and production of electric cars in response to tightening emissions regulations around the world, even as demand for such vehicles remains limited due to their high cost and limited charging infrastructure. Launched as the world's first mass-market all-battery EV in 2010, Nissan's Leaf compact hatchback is the world's best-selling EV, though sales have been just around 300,000 units in its lifetime. The company now plans to focus its lower-emissions lineup on all-battery and gasoline-hybrid EVs rather than costlier technologies including plug-in hybrids. Nissan said on Friday it would develop eight new all-battery EVs over the next five years, including four models for China. Its luxury Infiniti brand would begin carrying new electric models from 2021, it added. Through 2022, vehicles powered by its "e-Power" gasoline-hybrid technology would likely comprise the majority of Nissan's electric line-up, it said. Such vehicles use gasoline to power the car's motor, requiring a much smaller battery than EVs and therefore are less expensive to produce. "The heart of our strategy in terms of electrification is battery EVs and e-Power technology," Nissan Chief Planning Officer Philippe Klein told reporters at a briefing. Concerns about EV battery costs and components have prompted many automakers to develop a variety of lower emissions technologies, but Klein said that Nissan would largely forego plug-in hybrids and hydrogen fuel cell technologies, given their low cost-performance at the moment. In 2017, Nissan sold 163,000 electric vehicles globally. Nissan and its automaking partners, Renault and Mitsubishi, together plan to launch 17 electric models as part of their strategy to achieve annual vehicle sales totaling 14 million units by 2022, compared with 10.6 million units in 2017. Self-driving tests to continue Automakers and technology companies are facing mounting pressure to prove that their automated driving functions under development are safe to use on public roads following a fatal accident involving a self-driving car operated by Uber Technologies [UBER.UL] in the United States earlier this week.