2011 Nissan Pathfinder S on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Watch BJ Baldwin jump a Nissan GT-R in his Monster trophy truck

There could hardly be two more disparate machines than a Nissan GT-R and BJ Baldwin's wicked trophy truck. While the supercar from Nissan needs no introduction, Baldwin's rig boasts 850 horsepower and an equally dizzying 34-inches of suspension travel. Monster Energy has taken it upon itself to throw those two together in a new short film that features Baldwin rescuing the female pilot of the GT-R by first jumping both her and her car in his desert bruiser. (Please keep the snickering to yourself until the conclusion of our program.)
The clip features plenty of shots of the truck bashing across the desert, slinging sand on scantily clad models and otherwise having a hell of a time. It's automotive porn of the highest caliber, though it stays safe for work. Click below to enjoy the show for yourself. Our only regret is that there's not enough engine noise to match the otherwise hot action.

Tesla about to sell 50,000th Model S

Nissan sold its 50,000th Leaf a total of two years and two months after introducing the EV to dealerships. Tesla isn't as established as Nissan, and its Model S - with its higher levels of luxury and performance - costs multiple times more than the Leaf. Consider the Tesla's starting price of $70,000-plus (and easily much more with a bigger battery and a few upgrades), and compare that to the Leaf's base MSRP of just a bit over $30,000 before its 2013 price cut. It would make sense, then, that it would take the Model S longer to hit 50,000 unit sales. But, no. The Model S could meet the 50,000 sales milestone before the end of October (in fact, it may already have done so). This is just two years and three months after it launched in late June 2012. The Model S could meet the 50,000 sales milestone before the end of October. Tesla hasn't released its sales report for the third quarter, but the Palo Alto-based automaker sold 39,128 units of the Model S through June. Previously, Tesla estimated it would have 7,800 third quarter sales (putting it at 46,928 through September), other independent estimates put Tesla at 50,000 sales in late October. The Model S may not have beat the Nissan Leaf to 50K, but it's not hard to see how this is a win for the California automaker. Arguably, this is a case where we all win. Anytime some buys an EV instead of a traditionally powered vehicle - regardless of marque - that's less energy consumed while driving, fewer emissions and an example set to others who have yet to make the switch. It's hard not to be impressed by Tesla's relative success. Furthermore, Tesla coming so close to Nissan in selling 50,000 EVs is, above all, a testament to the desirability of the Model S, despite the Leaf's clear advantage in terms of attainability.

'Zero' chance of Renault taking over Nissan, Mitsubishi, says Ghosn

TOKYO — Renault SA absorbing Nissan Motor Co. and Mitsubishi Motors Corp is not an option as the carmakers look to strengthen their partnership while retaining their autonomy, alliance chairman Carlos Ghosn said on Friday. "Anybody who will ask Nissan and Mitsubishi to become wholly owned subsidiaries of Renault has zero chance of getting a result," Ghosn told shareholders of Mitsubishi Motors at a meeting. He also serves as chief executive of France's Renault. The alliance was the world's top-selling passenger vehicle maker in 2017, but as the global auto industry consolidates, it is looking to strengthen its position before the 64-year-old Ghosn, its main architect, retires in the coming years after overseeing the partnership for nearly 20 years. We reported in March that the carmakers were discussing a deeper tie-up, which could see the French government, a major shareholder in Renault, give up influence at Renault and the French carmaker relinquish control over Nissan. The three automakers have a unique partnership designed to leverage their combined scale to save on costs including R&D, parts procurement and production to better compete with rivals Volkswagen AG and Toyota Motor Corp. They are also interlinked by their shareholding structure. Renault holds 43.4 percent of shares in Nissan, while Nissan owns 15 percent of Renault, with no voting rights in a partnership that began in 1999. Mitsubishi Motors joined the alliance in 2016 after Nissan took a 34 percent controlling stake in the smaller automaker. Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa has said the alliance is not discussing a "full merger." Ghosn said that while the focus of the alliance was to sell more cars and increase profitability by reducing unnecessary duplication of processes, he wanted each of the three automakers to maintain their independence, which differentiated the group from Toyota and Volkswagen. "We need to work together ... to find a system by which what we have today, which is working very well, can continue in the future no matter who is leading the alliance," he said. "We need to prove that this is sustainable five years down the road, 10 years down the road, 15 years down the road." In a Figaro interview published last week, Ghosn was upbeat about the prospect of securing a new deal for the alliance despite its extreme political sensitivity in France and Japan, saying a plan would need to be announced "well before" the end of his four-year term at the helm of Renault in 2022.