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Nissan pokes fun at Tesla's New Jersey woes, then deletes Tweet

Ever have one of those moments when you release something out onto Twitter, only to think better of it a little while later and reach for that garbage can icon? If so, you are not alone. In fact, you're in the company of a certain Japanese automaker, who recently joined the ranks of those who've suffered an embarrassing bout of tweetus deletus. The Nissan Leaf social media team apparently thought it would be amusing to take a light poke at Tesla Motors and its New Jersey dealer fight woes on its Twitter feed and put together the cheeky graphic which you see above. It was originally published on the micro-blogging network accompanied by the text, "It's okay #NewJersey, you can still #GoElectric with the #NissanLEAF #EV." Funny, right? Not to everyone. The image attracted a bit of mild criticism which, to their credit, Nissan responded to saying, "It's all in #EV love." Soon, however, the original image disappeared from the @NissanLEAF feed. Luckily, we saved a copy for your edification. Rob Robinson, senior specialist of social communications for Nissan, told AutoblogGreen that the Leaf Twitter account is run by an agency, and that the tweet in question, "Was not a tweet that was reviewed or approved by Nissan. We saw it and asked them to take it down." As for the reasoning, Robinson said that, "We thought it was a discussion we didn't need to be weighing in on." While we can see the Nissan point of view, we also appreciate the attempt at being irreverent. Anything to break up the monotony of the stale toast the account usually offers up – "What would you nickname your Nissan Leaf if it was Ocean Blue?" which is the last undeleted Tweet available on the feed, as of this writing. We actually applaud the intention of the Tesla post. It all makes us wonder, though, if the social media team over there isn't in need of a little input on how they might improve its outreach. Since we know our readers are not shy in offering suggestions, we ask you to leave your thoughts and ideas for them in the Comments.

Nissan poised to nearly double exports from US by 2015 [w/video]

As a part of a plan to double its US export volume by 2015, Nissan started shipping 2014 Pathfinder SUVs from its plant in Smyrna, TN to Australia and New Zealand. These Pathfinders are not only the first right-hand-drive models Nissan has exported from the US, but their 10,000-mile journey through the Gulf of Mexico and across the Pacific is also the automaker's furthest export.
Products from the Smyrna plant are exported to 61 different countries, and Nissan's export volume from the US will account for around 14 percent of its production this year, which is two percent more than 2012. Helping all this is the fact that by early next year, Nissan's production in North and South America will top two million units thanks to added capacity in the US and new plants in Mexico and Brazil. An official video made to look like a news feature joins the press release from Nissan posted below.

Nissan: We lose money on each Leaf replacement battery

Nissan has been playing its cards pretty close to its chest when it comes to the production costs for Leaf battery packs. The company recently put a price on replacement batteries for customers at $5,500 plus the requirement to return the old battery. If the decommissioned battery is worth $1,000 to Nissan, as they have stated, that means the battery costs about $6,500 to make, right? Maybe even less if Nissan wants to turn a profit, as automakers are wont to do? Wrong.
Green Car Reports spoke to Nissan about these battery costs, and found that the automaker actually loses money on selling the replacement battery for the Leaf at the current price. Jeff Kuhlman, Nissan's vice president of global communications said, "Nissan makes zero margin on the replacement program. In fact, we subvent every exchange." All you English majors will know that "subvent" is a fancy way to say "subsidize." Kuhlman added, though, "We have yet to sell one battery as part of the program."
The fact that Nissan offers its replacement batteries for less than it costs to manufacture them is telling of a company both cares about what its customer needs and is dedicated to the success of its product. In this case, both of those things encourage people to give up fossil fuels and adopt electric mobility, which is heartening. As more people switch to battery-powered driving, though, battery technology should become better and cheaper, and the scale of production should cause manufacturing costs to decrease. Eventually, Nissan could easily see itself breaking even selling the Leaf battery replacements.