2004 Nissan Titan Xe; 1 Owner! on 2040-cars

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Nissan, Kia spending big to promote EVs, Chevy stays conservative on Volt

With 22 months of record Leaf sales under its zero-emission belt, Nissan has started two big ad campaigns for the battery-powered Leaf. On TV, there's the Kick Gas campaign (it's a popular name) and on social media, Nissan is promoting the EV as the "world's cleanest car" (it's a paint thing). We don't know how much the paint prank is costing, but we do have some estimated numbers for the TV ads. Nissan has spent over $30 million on TV advertising for the Leaf in 2014. According to iSpot, which tracks these sorts of things, Nissan spent over $30 million promoting the Leaf on TV in 2014. "Through November of this year," iSpot CEO Sean Muller wrote to AutoblogGreen, "Nissan spent more then $400 million in TV advertising for its traditional fuel fleet, and $22 million for the rechargeable Leaf. It has since dedicated an additional $9 million on it its new Kick Gas campaign, which started airing November 3, shortly after news of the electronic sales slump broke." iSpot says that Kick Gas aired predominately on NBC, CBS and Fox. The result of those airings can be seen in the charts below, but the takeaway point is that viewers of college football, Gladiator and The Rachel Maddow Show were the most engaged by the ad. Nissan has said the ad is working and that it helped increase Leaf sales in November. How is Chevrolet promoting the Volt? Not nearly as aggressively as Nissan is with the Leaf. Muller said iSpot estimates that GM spent just $2 million over the past couple of years to sell the plug-in hybrid on TV, despite offering 62 different Volt ads online. Then there's new entry into the mix, the Kia Soul EV. iSpot figures Kia has spent about $15 million on TV airings of that odd sexified hamster spot. That's a lot of money for a car that just went on sale here in October, let alone one that isn't available in most states. We've asked Chevy, Kia and Nissan for comment on the iSpot numbers but have not yet heard back. You can watch ads for all three vehicles below. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Details on Nissan's Kick Gas:

Question of the Day: Most heinous act of badge engineering?

Badge engineering, in which one company slaps its emblems on another company's product and sells it, has a long history in the automotive industry. When Sears wanted to sell cars, a deal was made with Kaiser-Frazer and the Sears Allstate was born. Iranians wanted new cars in the 1960s, and the Rootes Group was happy to offer Hillman Hunters for sale as Iran Khodro Paykans. Sometimes, though, certain badge-engineered vehicles made sense only in the 26th hour of negotiations between companies. The Suzuki Equator, say, which was a puzzling rebadge job of the Nissan Frontier. How did that happen? My personal favorite what-the-heck-were-they-thinking example of badge engineering is the 1971-1973 Plymouth Cricket. Chrysler Europe, through its ownership of the Rootes Group, was able to ship over Hillman Avanger subcompacts for sale in the US market. This would have made sense... if Chrysler hadn't already been selling rebadged Mitsubishi Colt Galants (as Dodge Colts) and Simca 1100s as (Simca 1204s) in its American showrooms. Few bought the Cricket, despite its cheery ad campaign. So, what's the badge-engineered car you find most confounding? Chrysler Dodge Automakers Mitsubishi Nissan Suzuki Automotive History question of the day badge engineering question

Nissan itself will be indicted alongside Ghosn, report says

Prosecutors in Tokyo are expected to file charges against Nissan itself alongside an expected indictment against former Chairman Carlos Ghosn as part of the ongoing financial misconduct case. That's according to a report from Japan's Nikkei business daily, which does not identify its sources. Charges are also likely against Greg Kelly, a member of Nissan's board of directors who was taken into custody with Ghosn Nov. 19 after Japanese authorities questioned the former chairman aboard a corporate jet at the Tokyo Haneda airport. Monday is the deadline when prosecutors must either indict the two executives, release them or arrest them on new allegations. Both men are accused of under-reporting salaries in five annual reports that stretch through the fiscal year that ended in March 2015. The Nikkei says they'll also be arrested on new allegations of misstating financial information for the subsequent three business years. Nissan would be charged for not preventing the alleged crime. Both men have reportedly denied the allegations. In response to the Nikkei report, a spokesman for Nissan told Automotive News the company had "identified serious misconduct related to the reporting of Mr. Ghosn's compensation" and was cooperating with investors. The turmoil over Ghosn prompted the automaker to scrap plans to unveil a long-awaited longer-range Leaf electric car at the L.A. Auto Show last week. Ghosn is accused of conspiring to understate his income by about half the 10 billion yen (about $88 million) over the period. Reports say the issue relates to deferred compensation that Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa reportedly signed off on but may not have understood. The company didn't report the deferred compensation in Japanese securities filings as it is required, since the money is considered a future liability against the company. Automotive News cites an unnamed source who says Nissan has identified some $80 million in unreported deferred compensation promised to Ghosn. Nissan's board voted Nov. 22 to oust him as chairman, and Mitsubishi followed suit days later. Ghosn remains the CEO and chairman of Renault, however. Under Ghosn's guidance, Nissan and Renault joined forces in 1999 when Nissan was teetering toward bankruptcy. Mitsubishi joined on in 2016, with all three members able to jointly develop products and control costs. He had reportedly been pushing for deeper ties, including a possible merger between Nissan and Renault at the urging of the French government.