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Andy Palmer leaves Renault-Nissan to serve as CEO of Aston Martin

Aston Martin has been without a helmsman since Ulrich Bez stepped down from the chief executive office at the end of last year, stepping back to serve as non-executive chairman in a semi-retired ambassadorial capacity. The British automaker, now on the cusp of a new era, has been running without a CEO since, but has now named Bez's replacement in Andy Palmer.
If you don't recognize the name, you should: Palmer has worked under the Renault-Nissan Alliance for decades now, rising through the ranks to become one of the top executives under Carlos Ghosn. Most recently he was serving as executive vice president of the entire group and chairman of the Infiniti brand, but like Carlos Tavares, who recently left Renault to run Peugeot, Palmer is now embarking on a new mission as CEO of Aston Martin.
Once the transition period is complete at the start of October, Palmer's role as Chief Planning Officer at Renault-Nissan will be assumed by Philippe Klein, who steps up from his current role as executive vice president of product planning for Renault. Read the statements from both companies below.

2020 Infiniti QX50 Luggage Test | Not infinity, but enough

The 2020 Infiniti QX50 is a comfortable five-seat luxury crossover that competes with the Audi Q5, Acura RDX, Volvo XC60, Lexus NX and others. If you’re interested in a QX50, itÂ’s probably got something to do with its impressive, technologically advanced VC-Turbo variable compression engine. It also has sumptuous swales of bodywork, a long list of driver-assist and safety features, and a solidly luxurious interior with a two-screen infotainment setup. The window sticker for the QX50 we drove recently in Essential trim says the seats were leatherette; if true, itÂ’s the most buttery fake leather out there. Still, the engineÂ’s the star. If performance is your only consideration, you can also get the VC-Turbo in the Nissan Altima sedan weighing 400 to 500-plus pounds less and at an MSRP starting $7,500 lower, a price spread that quickly expands as you option up the QX50. But if you want the QX50, itÂ’s probably because itÂ’s a crossover. You want to haul stuff. Which brings us to: luggage test. The QX50 has a cargo capacity of 31.1-31.4 cubic feet behind its raised back seat, which expands to 65.1 cubic feet with the rear seats down. That's more than most in its class, and the QX50Â’s cargo hold certainly looks big and usable enough. To test it, I had six roller suitcases at my disposal. Three would need to be checked at the airport, and one of those is particularly mondo (29x19x11, 26x17x10, 25x16x10). Three others were small enough to carry on (24x14x10, 23x14x11, 22x14x9). Several bags have four wheels that protrude and were counted in the dimensions. I lacked access to RiswickÂ’s wifeÂ’s fancy bag. An asterisk to all our luggage tests: Our crack team of test suitcases is empty. I know someone who can seriously overstuff a soft-sided bag, so depending on how you pack, your results may vary. The QX50 didn't arrive with a cargo cover, so that made things easier. My first stab at loading all those bags seemed promising — five out of six bags fit. Two of the big boys on edge, three carry-ons standing up. That would be one bag for every occupant, but hey, we can do better.  Standing them all up was the easy solution. This fits all six bags, and I'm certain they wouldn't fly forward in a hard stop. But the driver's rear view is impeded. I'd be annoyed to look back at this throughout a long trip. That biggest bag is the biggest offender, so can we just lay that one down? Sure, but we're back to just five bags fitting.

Nissan could report first quarterly loss since March 2009

TOKYO — Nissan may report its first quarterly loss in more than a decade on Thursday because of slumping sales, sources familiar with the company said, adding more pressure on efforts to rebuild the company after Carlos Ghosn's ouster. Deteriorating profits underscore the challenges facing Nissan, which is unwinding many of the expansionist strategies championed by ex-Chief Executive Officer and Chairman Ghosn by slashing jobs, production sites and product offerings to save cash and ensure its survival. In addition to slumping sales, production disruptions caused by China's coronavirus outbreak could also drag profits lower. Three senior officials at Japan's No. 2 automaker told Reuters that they anticipate a poor results announcement on Thursday, with one of them calling the figures "dismal". Two of the officials cautioned that there is the possibility of an operating loss, which would be the first quarterly loss since the period ending in March 2009. Nissan said it could not comment on its financial results ahead of its official announcement. The company is likely to report operating profit of 48.6 billion yen ($442.5 million) for the quarter ending in December, less than half the 103 billion yen profit a year ago, according to SmartEstimate's survey of three analysts, who revised their forecasts in January. However, those forecasts were issued before the release of the December vehicle sales figures on Jan. 30, which show third-quarter sales dropped by 11% from the year earlier period, according to Reuters calculations. That is the biggest quarterly slump of its current sales downturn that began two years ago. That sales decline led one auto equities analyst based in Japan to scrap his forecast and also warn that Nissan could post a loss. "It will be a question of whether there will be a profit or a loss. For the quarter, a loss is a possibility," he said, declining to be named as his forecast had not been updated to reflect his latest view. One of the three Nissan officials said there is a risk the automaker may cut its full-year profit forecast of 150 billion yen, which would be an 11-year low. The company announced that forecast in November after an initial 230 billion yen outlook.