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Bathurst 12-hour gallery is GT3 heaven [w/video]

The 2015 Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12-Hour race was run this weekend at the Mt. Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, Australia. Race photographer Joel Strickland sent us a huge batch of photos, all of which make us salivate for the switch to GT3 rules in the United SportsCar Championship; the top seven finishers at Bathurst were of seven different makes: Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3, Audi R8-LMS Ultra, Aston Martin Vantage GT3, Bentley Continental GT3, Mercedes SLS AMG GT3, Ferrari F458 Italia and Lamborghini Gallardo. It was a sweet victory for the No. 35 car driven by the NISMO Athlete Global Team after it crashed in Saturday qualifying, and then was only in third place on the penultimate lap. The three-man driving team included two GT Academy winners, one of whom, Florian Strauss, has only been a professional race car driver for 18 months. It's the first time the GT-R has won at Panorama since the original R32 "Godzilla" took back-to-back wins in 1991 and 1992. Second place went to the No. 15 Phoenix Racing Audi R8-LMS Ultra, 2.4 seconds behind the winners, third to the Craft Bamboo Racing Aston Martin Vantage not even half a second behind the Audi. The Bentley Motorsport team, in its first Bathurst 12-Hour with two cars, had its No. 10 Continental GT3 in the lead until the penultimate lap and in second place until the final corner, but crossed the line in fourth after some rubbin'-is-racin' action from chasers. And if pictures aren't enough, as of writing you can still watch the live stream of the entire race at the Bathurst 12-Hour site. Or, if you don't have the time, at least be sure to check out the last five minutes, below. Enjoy. Featured Gallery 2015 Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12-Hour View 118 Photos Image Credit: Copyright 2015 Joel Strickland / AOL Motorsports Aston Martin Audi Bentley Nissan Coupe Racing Vehicles Videos aston martin vantage gt3

Renault names new leaders as jailed Carlos Ghosn bows out

PARIS — Renault appointed Michelin boss Jean-Dominique Senard as its new chairman on Thursday, after Carlos Ghosn was forced to resign in the wake of a financial scandal that has rocked the French carmaker and its alliance with Japan's Nissan. Senard will become chairman immediately, the company said, with deputy chief executive Thierry Bollore taking over Ghosn's other Renault role as full CEO. The appointments may begin to ease a Renault-Nissan leadership crisis that erupted after Ghosn's Nov. 19 arrest in Japan and swift dismissal as Nissan chairman. Senard, 65, now faces the task of soothing relations with Renault's Japanese partner and resuming talks on a new alliance structure to cement the 20-year-old partnership. "It's important that this alliance remain extremely strong," Senard told reporters after a board meeting - citing the mounting investment demands of new vehicle technologies. "It is our compulsory duty to go forward together." Ghosn's exit also marks a clear end to one of the auto industry's most feted careers, two decades after he was despatched by former Renault boss Louis Schweitzer to rescue newly acquired Nissan from near-bankruptcy — a feat he pulled off in two years. After 14 years as Renault CEO and a decade as chairman, Ghosn formally resigned from both roles on the eve of the board meeting. Ghosn's arrest and indictment for financial misconduct has strained the Renault-Nissan relationship, threatening the future of the industrial partnership he transformed into a global carmaking giant over two decades. For two months, the tensions deepened as Renault and the French government stuck by Ghosn despite the revelation he had arranged to be paid tens of millions of dollars in additional income, unbeknownst to shareholders. Ghosn has been charged with failing to disclose more than $80 million in additional compensation for 2010-18 that he had agreed to be paid later. Nissan director Greg Kelly and the Japanese company itself have also been indicted. Both men deny the deferred pay was illegal or required disclosure, while not contesting the agreements' existence. Ghosn has denied a separate breach of trust charge over personal investment losses he temporarily transferred to Nissan in 2008. Ghosn had agreed in recent days to step down from Renault, Reuters reported on Tuesday — but only after the French government, Renault's biggest shareholder, called for leadership change and his bail requests were rejected.

Nissan Leaf sales double Chevy Volt to close out winning 2014

To close out the year, sales of the two most-popular plug-in vehicles in the US kept going in the direction that they had been all year. The Chevy Volt dropped and the Nissan Leaf had another record month. Sound familiar? The Volt sold 1,490 units in December, a year-to-year drop of 37.7 percent. For all of 2014, Volt sales were down 18.6 percent to just 18,805 (from 23,094 in 2013). On the Nissan side of the ledger, the Leaf sold 3,102 units, up 22.7 percent from the 2,529 sold in December 2013. For the year, Nissan sold 30,200 Leafs, up 33.6 percent from the 22,610 sold in 2013. A few other things to note: For every month in 2014, the Leaf sold more than it did for the same month in 2013. For the Volt, this was only true for three months (April, May and July). Funnily enough, the Volt sold exactly 1,478 units in both March 2013 and 2014. The Volt's 2014 total was lower than both 2013 and 2012, while the Leaf had its best year ever. There were three months in 2014 when people bought at least twice as many Leafs than bought a Volt (September, November, December). The Leaf outsold the Volt every month in 2014. The closest gap was 215 units, in February. The biggest was 1,612, in December. As you've most likely seen, GM is still busy teasing the new Volt, which will make its official debut at the Detroit Auto Show next week. We'll have a more in-depth green car sales post up soon. <iframe embedded="true" "="" scrolling="no" src="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1oIuH75vaSHaaplD4x6gLsYjSsiN4oGmez1T63eaYdhY/pubhtml?widget=true&headers=false" height="430"> Nissan celebrates 30,000 leaf sales in 2014, best year ever for sales of any plug-in vehicle NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Jan. 5, 2015) – Nissan, the world leader in electric vehicle sales, shattered yet another sales record with 30,200 LEAF vehicles sold in 2014, which is the first time any plug-in has sold more than 30,000 units in a single year. "Now in its fifth model year, Nissan LEAF is more popular than ever and continues to bring new buyers to Nissan," said Brendan Jones, director, Nissan Electric Vehicle Sales and Infrastructure. "From the beginning our vision was to bring electric vehicles to the mass market in a practical and fun-to-drive package, which is what makes Nissan LEAF the best-selling electric car in the world." Last month, Nissan sold 3,102 all-electric LEAFs, up 22.7 percent from the prior year and a December record.