2004 Infiniti G35 Excellent Condition Low Miles on 2040-cars

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2023 Infiniti Q50 Red Sport 400 Black Opal steals Midnight Purple thunder

The Infiniti Q50 Red Sport 400 gets a special wardrobe option for 2023, a Black Opal iridescent paint job that shifts from black to blue to green to purple depending on the light and viewing angle. The paint is matched with satin black badging and an exposed carbon fiber decklid spoiler, accessories certain to suit any of the color-shifted hues. Grouped into a Black Opal Edition Package, the styling upgrade adds $2,200 to the price of the Q50 Red Sport 400 that starts at $59,575 before options. The inclusion of the word "Edition" is the clue to this being sold in limited numbers. Infiniti didn't say how many would be offered for our market, but based on the historical connections Infiniti is making with this, we expect it won't be more than a few hundred. Black Opal on the Q50 wants to trace its lineage to the now legendary Midnight Purple II, a color introduced on the R34 Nissan Skyline GT-R in 1998. Quick history lesson: There was a Midnight Purple that first appeared on the R33 GT-R, known as Midnight Purple I or by its paint code LP2, but it was solid metallic purple. Nissan introduced the iridescence with Midnight Purple II (LV4) with a blue-green color shift on the R34 GT-R, then did it again with Midnight Purple III (LX0) that shimmered blue-orange. All three were limited editions, and all three get huge money at auction now. Nissan let loose an R35 GT-R with a Midnight Opal paint job for the 2014 model year, restricted to 100 units worldwide. The redux came for the 2022 model year with the GT-R T-spec that could be had in Midnight Purple, also limited.    That's where the Black Opal Edition Q50 Red Sport 400 gets its mojo from. The 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6 with 400 horsepower and 350 pound-feet of torque doesn't hurt, either.

Recharge Wrap-up: Cruz defends ethanol stance, Bloomberg gets EV numbers wrong?

Republican presidential hopeful Senator Ted Cruz is defending his stance against ethanol subsidies in an opinion piece in The Des Moines Register. In the piece, Cruz says he doesn't oppose ethanol, but opposes mandates and subsidies, favoring a "free and fair energy marketplace," and an "'all of the above' policy." "We should embrace all of the energy resources with which God has blessed America: oil and gas, coal, nuclear, wind, solar, and biofuels and ethanol," says Cruz, "But Washington shouldn't be picking winners and losers." To farmers' benefit, Cruz says he would enforce antitrust laws against those who try to keep ethanol out of the marketplace, and fight the EPA's hard blend walls prohibiting higher amounts of ethanol in gasoline. Read Cruz's article at The Des Moines Register, and read more from The Washington Times.Hybrid Cars calls out Bloomberg Business in a post saying it used inaccurate data in a piece highlighting dim plug-in sales. While the Bloomberg article, titled "Plug-in Electric Autos Left Behind in Record Year," accurately points out a slower year for EVs, it claims sales slipped 17 percent in 2015. According to data from Hybrid Cars, that decline was just 2.88 percent. Hybrid Cars claims that Bloomberg lumped a number of PHEVs with regular hybrids when it calculated the faulty data. Read more about the discrepancy and the more realistic picture of EV sales at Hybrid Cars.The National Biodiesel Board has hired Sandra Franco as general counsel. The Georgetown University Law Center graduate gained experience in environmental litigation during her time as a partner at the Morgan Lewis Law Firm. "There isn't an attorney in the country who knows renewable fuels law better than Sandra Franco, and we are thrilled to have her join our team," says National Biodiesel Board CEO Joe Jobe. "Sandra is a tremendously skilled and seasoned attorney who will help us ensure that the US biodiesel industry has a strong voice and expert counsel in Washington as well as on legal and regulatory issues across the country." Read more at Crop Protection News.Nissan and Infiniti will use Microsoft Azure to power the Connect Telematics System (CTS) for the Nissan Leaf and Infiniti cars in Europe. CTS allows a remote connection to the car, enabling customers to perform a variety of functions from afar. This includes adjusting climate control and programming charging from a smartphone.

J.D. Power: Mini, Lexus again offer most satisfying sales experience

JD Power has released its annual Sales Satisfaction Index Study, and once again Mini and Lexus have taken top honors. Overall, buyers are more satisfied with the auto-buying sales experience than they were last year, with those surveyed reporting an average score of 664 points on a 1,000-point scale. That's up from 648 in 2011. Dealer satisfaction also increased by five points over last year as well.
All told, Lexus brought home an index score of 737, which was high enough to put it atop the luxury brands for the second year in a row. JD Power says Infiniti came in second in that category with a score of 728 and Cadillac rounded out the podium with it's rating of 725. Speaking of Infiniti, that brand saw the single largest jump in sales satisfaction of any brand on the survey, popping up 52 index points over 2011.
Among mass-market brands, Mini ranked highest with a score of 712, followed closely by Buick with 706 and GMC farther down the line with 683. You can check out the full press release below for more information.