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Nissan axing Pathfinder Hybrid from 2016 lineup

The Nissan lineup gets a little smaller for the 2016 model year, as the Pathfinder Hybrid is dropped from the range. With its debut in late 2013, the electrically assisted SUV is one of the company's more recent introductions. However, it never really caught on with the public. "The Pathfinder Hybrid is not available in the US for the 2016 model year. Our emphasis is on the 3.5-liter V6 Pathfinder that achieves a best-in-class 20-city and 27-highway fuel economy," Nissan North America product communications director Dan Bedore confirmed to Autoblog. "Nissan has no announcement on future hybrid gasoline-electric powertrain applications at this time." Nissan actually ended production of the Pathfinder Hybrid in January, and "the hybrid was never a big part of Pathfinder sales," Bedore said to Automotive News. For the price premium, the electrically assisted version that combined a supercharged 2.5-liter four-cylinder and a 20-horsepower electric motor was only rated three or four miles per gallon better in EPA combined ratings than with the V6. However, while the company doesn't outline individual sales of the two, powertrain variants, the SUV is performing well so far this year. Through June 2015, sales are up 4.9 percent with 41,938 units sold. The future for the Infiniti QX60 Hybrid, which is the Pathfinder's more luxurious sibling, doesn't look very bright either. "For the United States, while the QX60 Hybrid continues to be available at some retailers across the country, our production is currently focused on the QX60 3.5 model," Infiniti spokesperson Kyle Bazemore told Autoblog. However, the vehicle is still in production at the Smyrna, TN, factory for export to places like China and Mexico. According to Bazemore if demand happens to increase in the US, "we have the manufacturing ability to make them available." Overall, QX60 sales are also up 14 percent this year in the US.

Ghosn says having Apple in EV business would be good news

Nissan once promised to have commercially viable autonomous vehicles on the road by 2020 and even certified a Leaf to test the technology in Japan. The company has since backpedaled a bit from its original lofty claims, though. During CEO Carlos Ghosn's keynote presentation at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, the auto exec talked more about the automaker's strategy and directly confronted Apple's rumored entry into the market. "When Apple says they are going to come with an electric car in 2020, that's good news for us," he said in his speech, according to Adweek. Ghosn took the view that any company able to grow the acceptance of EVs would help every automaker in the segment. The Renault-Nissan Alliance has been at the forefront of developing the market and claimed nearly 60 percent of the global market share last year. He was also the latest auto industry heavyweight to voice his opinion on Apple entering the industry. However, in contrast to former General Motors boss Dan Akerson, the Nissan CEO was much more welcoming. Ghosn also used the speech as a chance to clarify Nissan's plans for autonomous vehicles and seemingly pushed the original goal back by about five years. "In 10 years, you'll have cars without the driver. It is here, and it's going to transform the products," he said, according to Adweek. Under Nissan's current timeline, traffic-jam assist and fully automated parking are due in 2016, followed by automatic lane changing in 2018 and the ability to drive through intersections without a driver's control comes in 2020. News Source: AdweekImage Credit: Yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP / Getty Images Green Nissan Renault Technology Emerging Technologies Autonomous Vehicles Electric

Nissan Safari police truck a sort of A-Team van from Japan

Television today might be at one the best points in the medium's history with shows like Mad Men, Louie, True Detective and streaming offerings like House of Cards. However, none of those come close to the number of car chases and explosions of '70s and '80s offerings like Charlie's Angels, The A-Team or The Dukes of Hazard. Apparently, this prevalence of action at the time wasn't just an American phenomenon. In Japan, a show called Seibu Keisatsu fulfilled the nation's need for shootouts and stunts.
Nissan was a major sponsor of the show, and therefore the brand's vehicles were used extensively, including a highly modified Nissan Safari SUV (also known as the Nissan Patrol), pictured above. In the show's lore, it was equipped with radar, a camera and a fire extinguisher capable of turning over a car. The series ran 236 episodes from 1979 to 1984, and with the trailer below as indication, that allowed time for plenty of car jumps and explosions.
The entire Seibu Keisatsu series is now coming out in Japan on DVD and Blu-Ray packed in a fake gun case. The trailer below shows off some of the action of the series. It all starts out normal enough, but about a minute into the video there are all sorts of Nissans jumping and crashing. Plus, there is a guy on fire in a shootout. This show looks like some seriously cheesy fun. Scroll down to get a taste of it.