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2015 Nissan Juke keeps its funky

The Nissan Juke is one of the most polarizing vehicles on the road today, but that doesn't mean it hasn't been a sales success, especially in Europe. Nissan is giving the the CUV its first styling refresh at the Geneva Motor Show. While the design changes will almost certainly be universal, the mechanical changes are still somewhat of a mystery for the US market. Nissan makes it clear in its press release below that it covers only the European model, and details about the North American model are coming later.
The exterior changes put a focus on making the Juke look a bit more angular and sporty. The lights on the fenders are now formed into a jagged point and somewhat echo the boomerang-shaped taillights. It also features Nissan's new, thicker V-shaped chrome grille. The door mirrors receive LED turn signals, and the lower portion of the rear receives a simulated mesh grille to look more aggressive. Other than some new color schemes, the interior is basically unchanged. However, the luggage area has been reshaped to increase storage capacity by 40 percent to 12.5 cubic feet (354 liters).
European buyers are getting a new 1.2-liter DIG-T turbocharged engine with 113 horsepower (115PS) and 140 pound-feet of torque (190Nm), and the 1.6 DIG-T also gets an increased compression ratio to produce 188 hp and is offered with either a six-speed manual or Nissan's Xtronic CVT. The all-wheel-drive system has also been upgraded with a torque vectoring system.

Nissan not shuttering Leaf EV battery plants, at least not yet

The big news on the electric vehicle front today is that Nissan is considering slowing down EV battery production in the US and UK and source all of Nissan's big packs come from Japan. Nissan may also buy some batteries from the Korean company LG Chem. This is apparently causing dissent within Nissan, but it follows what Alliance partner Renault is doing in the hunt for 180-mile EVs. This change – officially denied by Nissan – raises a lot of questions here, since Nissan made a huge deal about building the Leaf pack in Tennessee a few years ago. In fact, the car's big price drop was due, in part, to localizing battery production. If the company is really going to give up on building the packs where it makes the cars, then does Nissan not see itself as being capable of producing an energy-dense battery cheap enough to compete with Tesla and its Gigafactory and GM (which, of course, has long worked with LG Chem on batteries)? Whatever Nissan decides, it needs to be ready to compete in a market that offers a $35,000, 200-mile car by 2017. "We have not taken any decision whatsoever to modify battery sourcing allocation." – Renault-Nissan's Rachel Konrad Nissan would not comment directly on the reported change, but Rachel Konrad, the Alliance's global director of communications and marketing told AutoblogGreen, "The Renault-Nissan Alliance remains 100 percent committed to its industry-leading EV program. This global commitment continues for the foreseeable future, and we have not taken any decision whatsoever to modify battery sourcing allocation. Nissan has no plans to impair its battery investments. Beyond that,we will not comment on speculation or anonymous sources, and as a matter of policy the Alliance does not confirm or deny procurement reviews." There's a point-of-view where it doesn't matter where the batteries come from if the resulting EV is competitive, price-wise. Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn, after all, said during a recent Twizy test drive that the battery is a means, and the objective is the car. In the end, Nissan is saying it has no near-term or medium-term plan to shutter plants in US or UK and CEO Carlos Ghosn says, "What's important to us is that electric car performance fully meets customer expectations." Whatever's going on, Ghosn has seen three top executives leave the Renault-Nissan family recently.

Nissan's Carlos Ghosn taps the brakes on autonomous car progress

"Self-driving cars remain a long way from commercial reality."
Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn shocked the automotive industry last year when he announced that his company plans to offer consumers an autonomous car by 2020. The automaker even showed off its self-driving Leaf prototype as proof. He was bolder recently with the pronouncement that select markets could have them in 2018, if laws allowed. The boss' optimism appears to be waning, though, and he's now sounding a lot more conservative about the future. While driverless vehicles are still on the way, Ghosn is hedging his bets with a more gradual implementation of several systems.