2012 Altima Coupe 3.5 Sr, 6 Speed, Premium Pkg, Ipod, Sunroof, 10578 Miles on 2040-cars

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Ghosn: Low oil prices won't hurt EVs much

Carlos Ghosn might be the most unflappable automotive CEO around. Despite lower gas prices and signs that these prices do impact green vehicle sales, the CEO of the Renault-Nissan Alliance was at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland this weekend saying that people will continue to buy electric vehicles. "I don't think it is going to be slowing down," he said. "The people who are buying mainly for economic reasons may be deterred from it, but you have plenty of consumers buying EV for other reasons. On top of this, even though the price of oil is unpredictable – nobody has predicted last year that we would be at this level of oil price today and nobody knows where oil price will be next year or two years down the road – but what is predictable is that the regulation on emissions is going to get tougher in the various markets where we are present. So, our EV strategy is here not only to face too much dependence on oil or the cost of oil, but also to allow us to meet the very stringent regulations on emissions that are happening and will be happening in the future. So I can bet you that more and more car makers are coming to EVs and they're going to continue to build and sell EVs, even though the price of oil is coming down." The bit about oil prices and electric vehicles starts at 1:35 into the video. News Source: Nissan via YouTube Green Nissan Renault Emissions Gas Prices Electric Videos oil prices

Alpine unveils N36 LMP2 car that will race in 24 Hours of Le Mans

This is the Alpine LMP2 competitor you'll see contesting European endurance races this year, including The 24 Hours of Le Mans in June. Parent company Renault showed off the N36 racer at its atelier in Paris, the blue and orange a switch from the yellow, black and white livery Alpine wore last time it was seen in Le Mans way back in 1978 when it won the race.
The team will be run by Signatech-Nissan and the chassis will be powered by a Nissan engine. Nelson Panciatici and Pierre Ragues will contest World Endurance Championship rounds throughout the year, they'll be joined by endurance and IndyCar veteran Tristan Gommendy for Le Mans and Paul-Loup Chatin as the team's reserve driver.
The Alpine N36 will get into its first test this week at Paul Ricard, then experience its first racing miles at the European Le Mans Series round at Silverstone on April 13. The press release below has the full scoop, the photos above have the past and present in high-res glory.

UAW calls on US State Department to help with Nissan plant

The United Auto Workers is calling for reinforcements in its ongoing battle with Nissan at the manufacturer's Canton, MS factory, where the Altima, Armada, Titan and NV (and eventually, the next Murano) are built. The union has been attempting to organize the employees at the factory for several years, but it's been largely unsuccessful.
Now, Reuters is reporting that the UAW is teaming with the IndustriALL Global Union and requesting intervention by the US State Department, with both groups accusing Nissan of using "threats, intimidation and fear" to keep the 5,600 workers at the facility from organizing. The two unions say this violates the guidelines of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, an international organization dedicated to stimulating economic growth.
The UAW and IndustriALL are asking the State Department's National Contact Point to serve as mediator with Nissan, to make sure things play out fairly. Speaking to Reuters, though, there's at least one Michigan-based labor adviser that's skeptical of the move.