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Bhutan asks Nissan, Mitsubishi for help with massive EV-only plan

Originally, the somewhat modest plan was to introduce 2,000 electric vehicles to the capital of Bhutan. Then things got bigger when Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn paid the country a visit and the Prime Minister of Bhutan, Tshering Tobgay, said his country, "will commit to a program to achieve zero emissions as a nation by a certain target date." Now we're approaching "holy huge" territory. Last week, Tobgay visited Japan to ask Nissan and Mitsubishi for help in possibly replacing every combustion vehicle with an all-electric option. "Gasoline is expensive and unfriendly to the environment." – Bhutan's Prime Minister At the very least, Bhutan wants to make more eco-friendly vehicles available. Tobgay told AsiaNews that, "Gasoline is expensive and unfriendly to the environment. Sustainable transportation will bring citizens happiness," which is something that a country that measures its Gross National Happiness is eager to track. Switching to electric vehicles makes complete sense in Bhutan, since the mountainous Asian nation produces more renewable hydro-electricity than it can use. Ninety-five percent of the zero-emission energy is exported to India, and Bhutan uses the profits to buy fuel from India to then power its vehicles. You can probably figure out for yourself how there's a simpler way to do this. News Source: AsiaNews.it Green Mitsubishi Nissan Green Culture Electric

Japan may aid carmakers facing U.S. tariff threat

TOKYO — Japan is considering giving carmakers fiscal support including tax breaks to offset the impact from trade frictions with the United States and a sales-tax hike planned for next year, government sources told Reuters on Wednesday. Going into a second round of trade talks with the United States on Sept. 21, Japan is hoping to avert steep tariffs on its car exports and fend off U.S. demands for a bilateral free trade agreement that could put it under pressure to open politically sensitive markets, like agriculture. "If the trade talks pile pressure on Japan's car exports, we would need to consider measures to support the auto industry," a ruling party official said on condition of anonymity because of sensitivity of the matter. The auto industry accounts for about 20 percent of Japan's overall output and around 60-70 percent of the country's trade surplus with the United States, making it vulnerable to U.S. action against Japanese exports. Japan's biggest automakers and components suppliers fear they could take a significant hit if Washington follows through on proposals to hike tariffs on autos and auto parts to 25 percent. Policymakers also worry that an increase in the sales tax from 8 percent to 10 percent planned for October 2019, could cause a slump in sales of big-ticket items such as cars and home. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has twice postponed the tax hike after the last increase from 5 percent in 2014 dealt a blow to private consumption, which accounts for about 60 percent of the economy. To prevent a pullback in demand after the tax hike, the government may consider large fiscal spending later when it draws up its budget for next year, government sources said. "One option may be to greatly reduce or abolish the automobile purchase tax," one of the government sources said. The government is also considering cuts in the automobile tax and automobile weight tax to help car buyers, the source added. Reporting by Izumi Nakagawa and Tetsushi KajimotoRelated Video: Image Credit: Getty Government/Legal Isuzu Mazda Mitsubishi Nissan Subaru Suzuki Toyota Trump Trump tariffs trade

Nissan GT-R convertible offered in three flavors from NCE

Newport Convertible Engineering, the Southern California company that can't keep its top on, has revealed on its website that it is now producing three different droptop versions of the Nissan GT-R Convertible. It's just another page in its work with high-end offerings like the new Range Rover and the Jaguar XJ. NCE owner Al Zadeh tells Autoblog that the superfast speedster came about during a trip to Abu Dhabi, when clients of his that collectively owned ten GT-Rs said they wanted him to engineer a convertible. They didn't want to see pictures, though, "They wanted to touch it and see it," he said.
So he built a convertible with a traditional, unadorned soft tonneau cover (the white one in our gallery) and another with hard tonneau cover fitted with roll hoops and a low-rise dual cowl (the blue one). When the clients saw it, "They said they wanted something more glamorous," Zadeh said. So he came up with the black version above with a hard tonneau cover and can't-miss-it cowling that, frankly, looks pretty good to us in that color and with those wheels.
Clients satisfied, the order books have opened for other GT-R owners around the world. The most restrained version runs $29,500 to build, the other two retail for $49,000, and all of them require a donor GT-R and eight weeks to finish. With facilities in SoCal, Europe and the Middle East, you won't even have to send your Godzilla too far away if this is the look you've decided it just has to have.