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Recharge Wrap-up: Lexus CT 200h is NWAPA's favorite hybrid, 'No Charge to Charge' in LA

The Northwest Automotive Press Association (NWAPA) has given the Lexus CT 200h its Favorite Hybrid title. It named the compact luxury hybrid its favorite of 2014 at its Drive Revolution in Portland (where it also named the new Volkswagen Golf TDI the Northwest Green Car of the Year). According to NWAPA president Nik Miles, the CT 200h earned the honor for "impressive combination of state-of-the-art small car luxury and hybrid technology." For 2014, the Lexus CT200h got an updated front end, including the spindle grille we've been seeing on new Lexus vehicles, plus a redesigned steering wheel and sliding sun visors. Read more in the press release below. Chevrolet credits the Malibu for helping make stop-start mainstream. Chevrolet started including stop-start technology standard in Malibus equipped with the four-cylinder engine. Chevy has sold about 83,000 of that model, so 97 percent of 2014 and 2015 Malibu sales include stop-start. Now, that technology has made its way into the 2015 Impala. With drivers idling an average of 16 minutes a day, stop-start can significantly reduce harmful emissions and save fuel. According to Navigant Research, we can expect annual sales of cars equipped with stop-start technology to surpass 55 million by 2022. Read more in the press release below. Nissan Leaf customers in Los Angeles will get access to free charging beginning August 15. Nissan is extending its "No Charge to Charge" promotion to LA, which will allow customers to charge at public charging stations at no cost. Leaf customers - including those who bought or leased their car from the participating dealerships on or after July 1 - will get an EZ-Charge card, allowing them to use ChargePoint, Blink, CarCharging, AeroVironment and NRG eVgo chargers for free. Rapid chargers can charge the Leaf's battery to 80 percent in 30 minutes. Nissan plans to offer the "No Charge to Charge" in at least 14 more markets in the US, bringing the total to 25, within the next year. See the press release below for more details. California will get six all-electric school buses for three school districts as part of a demonstration program. The California Energy Commission awarded a grant of $1.4 million for the program to National Strategies LLC; this is in addition to a $2.2-million grant from the South Coast Air Quality Management District. The EV buses use vehicle-to-grid technology, allowing them to sell energy back to the grid when it is needed.

Ghosn: Nissan, Renault going for 'mini alliance' with 'reduced scope'

TOKYO — Former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn said on Tuesday during a news conference at the Foreign CorrespondentsÂ’ Club of Japan in Tokyo that the Japanese automaker and Renault are trying to go for less cooperation between them with a deal to overhaul their long-standing alliance. "With the latest agreement, they're trying to go for a mini alliance with a very reduced scope of cooperation," Ghosn told reporters in Tokyo via video stream. Nissan and Renault are holding discussions about a final agreement to overhaul their alliance, after announcing in January that the deal will see Renault bring down its stake in Nissan to 15% from about 43% to put them on an equal level. Earlier this year, Ghosn filed a lawsuit against Nissan and a handful of individuals seeking $588 million in lost remuneration, and a further $500 million in moral damages. “Nissan will have to pay for what they did to me and my family,” Ghosn said. “Nissan created a lot of damage Â… damage that can not be repaired.” “What IÂ’m looking for is not revenge,” Ghosn added. “I just want to make sure that all the criminals and the plotters cannot sleep quietly in their beds after what they have committed.” Material from Reuters was used in this report. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

How Nissan's NYC Taxi of Tomorrow has turned into a nightmare

"Why can't we have competition? Why did the city think there had to be exclusivity?" – Taxi Association Nissan's takeover of the lucrative New York City taxi market hasn't exactly gone according to script. An agreement that should have seen the company become the exclusive supplier of taxis for the next ten years has resulted in nothing but headaches, controversy and legal challenges, despite the $1 billion deal between the Japanese marque and the Big Apple. The opposition to the Nissan deal has been fierce since day one, Automotive News reports in a sweeping writeup of the Taxi of Tomorrow saga, with the Greater New York Taxi Association – which represents nearly a third of the city's taxi owners – putting up a fight against the new van cabs. Whether it's the monopolistic nature of the Nissan deal – as we said, under the terms of the deal Nissan would become the sole distributor of taxis for New York cabbies – the NV200 taxi's limited reliability record, or concerns over the company's ability to supply the cabs, the Taxi Association has fought tooth and nail against the so-called Taxi of Tomorrow, AN reports. "Look, Nissan is a good company. And the NV200 is not a bad car. If it turns out that people like it, then great – they should be able to sell them here," Ethan Gerber, an attorney for the Taxi Association told Automotive News. "But why can't we have competition? Why did the city think there had to be exclusivity? It stifles competition and stops innovation." "Why couldn't we just have standards for the taxi, and if Toyota and Ford wanted to offer an identical vehicle that might be somehow better or more competitive, why can't they?" Gerber asked. "Obviously, there is always disappointment, but I trust that there is fairness." – Carlos Ghosn The biggest source of opposition, though, focused around how the NV200 was approved in the first place, because it doesn't subscribe to one of former Mayor Michael Bloomberg's requirements for the next-generation taxi – that it would be available as a hybrid. It was that last point that initially got Nissan in trouble with the courts. In May 2013, New York County Supreme Court Justice Peter Moulton ruled the deal void, declaring that cab operators were free to shop for non-Nissan hybrids, though cab owners still had to go through Nissan if they wanted a standard, gas-powered taxi. Or, they would have.