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Renault keeps 15% stake in Nissan, transfers majority of shares to French trust

Renault and Nissan completed a landmark deal to rebalance their 24-year-long alliance, paving the way for a new relationship after years of acrimony between the two partners. The automakers on Wednesday announced the creation of a French trust to which Renault transferred 28.4% of Nissan shares. The companies first disclosed plans for the trust in January. Renault Group and Nissan now have a cross-shareholding of 15% with lock-up and standstill obligations, the companies and junior alliance partner Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said in a statement. Renault managers in recent weeks have reiterated that staff should no longer share information with their Nissan counterparts, according to people familiar with the situation, after the French carmaker announced in September that aspects of the alliance would be unwound by year-end.  Taken together with the deal to equalize their cross-shareholdings at 15%, the developments are the clearest indications yet that members of one of the world’s biggest automotive tie-ups are increasingly going their separate ways. Renault told employees in September it was moving away from common structures with Nissan in favor of a new, project-by-project approach to working together. The dissolution of the companiesÂ’ joint purchasing organization means the two will no longer pool information on a regular basis due to antitrust concerns. The sell-down of shares held by the trustee will be coordinated with Nissan, which will have the right of first offer to purchase the stock. The trust will have no obligation to sell the shares within a specific or pre-determined period of time. The new alliance deal presented to investors in London in February followed months of tense negotiations that nearly collapsed late last year due to sticking points on intellectual property and disagreement over the valuation of RenaultÂ’s electric-vehicle and software arm Ampere, in which Nissan has agreed to invest. The alliance dates back to 1999, when Renault rescued Nissan with a cash injection and the two formed one of the biggest auto partnerships in the industry. Rivalries and mutual suspicion mounted over the years and came to a head when former leader Carlos Ghosn openly contemplated merging the two companies, contributing to his downfall.

Nissan presents NV200 is the brave new face of London taxis [w/video]

In most cities, just about any vehicle can serve as a taxi - so long as it meets the owner/operator's requirements for reliability, comfort and utility. But certain cities have their own unique taxis, and Nissan has been working hard to corner those markets. It has already designed specific taxis for such locations as New York, Barcelona and Tokyo, but its latest effort will bring a new Hackney Carriage to the streets of London.
A year and a half ago, Nissan displayed its NV200 on the streets of London in traditional black livery. But this new design takes the customization for the British capital one step further. Working closely with the mayor's office and with cab drivers across the city, Nissan's European design center in the Paddington district has reskinned the NV200 specifically to serve as the new black cab in London. The new face features round headlights, a new grille, LED lighting and a restyled front bumper. The steering has also been reconfigured to meet the 25-foot turning circle requirements for Hackney Carriages, as the black cabs are known on the streets of London.
The result is a distinctly British take on the NV200 taxi - one that we're guessing won't go without its fair share of controversy. Nissan will begin offering the black cab at the end of the year with a 1.6-liter gasoline engine mated to an automatic transmission, a powertrain said to be cleaner than the diesels used in existing taxis. And Nissan should know, having supplied many of those 2.7-liter turbodiesels in the '80s and '90s. But if that's not clean enough, the Japanese automaker will also begin selling an electric version, the e-NV200, starting next year. Watch the video clip and read the full details in the press release below.

Detroit 3 to implement delayed unified towing standards for 2015

Car buyers have a responsibility to be well-informed consumers. That's not always a very simple task, but some guidelines are self-evident. If you live in a very snowy climate, you generally know a Ford Mustang or Chevrolet Camaro might not be as viable a vehicle choice as an all-wheel drive Explorer or Traverse, for example. If you want a fuel-efficient car, it's generally a good idea to know the difference between a diesel and a hybrid. But what if it's kind of tough to be an informed consumer? What if the information you need is more difficult to come by, or worse, based on different standards for each vehicle? Well, in that case, you might be a truck shopper. For years, customers of light-duty pickups have had to suffer through different ratings of towing capacities for each brand. For 2015 model year trucks, though, that will no longer be a problem. According to Automotive News, General Motors, Ford and Chrysler Group have announced that starting with next year's models, a common standard will be used to measure towing capacity. The Detroit Three will join Toyota, which adopted the Society of Automotive Engineers' so-called SAE J2807 standards way back in 2011. The standard was originally supposed to be in place for MY2013, but concerns that it would lower the overall stated capacity for trucks led Detroit automakers to pass. Ford originally passed, claiming it'd wait until its new F-150 was launched to adopt the new standards, leading GM and Ram to follow suit. Nissan, meanwhile, has said it will adopt the new standards as its vehicles are updated, meaning the company's next-generation Titan should adhere to the same tow ratings as its competitors. While the adoption of SAE J2807 will be helpful for light-duty customers, those interested in bigger trucks will still be left with differing standards. There is no sign of the new tow standards being adopted for the heavy-duty market.