Auto blog

Nissan Leaf, e-NV200 get orange treatment for Ultraman Ginga S

The automobile-as-crime-fighting-teammate concept dates back at least to the 1960s Batman television series, gained further currency during the 1980s with Knight Rider and was referenced in the recent Kia ads featuring Los Angeles Clippers basketball star Blake Griffin and Jack McBrayer of 30 Rock fame. Now, Nissan has put a bright, colorful spin on the idea by tricking out both a Leaf electric vehicle and an e-NV200 electric van for the Japanese television show Ultraman Ginga S. A far cry from the aforementioned muscle cars (the Leaf powertrain delivers just 107 horsepower), the vehicles still cut dashing figures by featuring a lot of orange, a bunch of geegaws, a body kit and cannons. Yes, cannons. They were shown off at the Tokyo Toy Show. The Ultraman Ginga series debuted on Japanese television just last year, according to the Internet Movie Database (IMDB). Nissan started making the real-world e-NV200 electric van in Spain in May. No plans have been announced for US sales, though the Japanese automaker will export the van to its home country. There's an explanatory video and Nissan's press release about the Ultraman Ginga vehicles below, but we apologize in advance, as you will need to be able to read Japanese for the PR. The video has been helpfully translated. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. ???????????????????????????? --??????????2014????????????e-NV200???????????-- ?????????(??:????????? ??:???? ???)???????????????(??:?????? ??:?? ??)??????????????????????? ???????????????100%???????????*1???6?9??????100%????????e-NV200?????????????2????????????????TV?????????????????S*2(???????????)???????? ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ?????????????????11?5??????????????????10????????????e-NV200???????????????????????????Leaf to Home??????????????????????????????????????????? ???7?15???????????????????S??????????????????????????????????Web?????????????????????????? ???6?12???6?15????4?????????????????????????????2014???????????????e-NV200????????????????????????????????????????????????????? (*6?12??13????????????????????????????) ????????S????????????????????????> ??: 6?12?(?)11:30~ ??: ???????? ?4??? No.4-1???????

Ghosn: Low oil prices won't hurt EVs much

Carlos Ghosn might be the most unflappable automotive CEO around. Despite lower gas prices and signs that these prices do impact green vehicle sales, the CEO of the Renault-Nissan Alliance was at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland this weekend saying that people will continue to buy electric vehicles. "I don't think it is going to be slowing down," he said. "The people who are buying mainly for economic reasons may be deterred from it, but you have plenty of consumers buying EV for other reasons. On top of this, even though the price of oil is unpredictable – nobody has predicted last year that we would be at this level of oil price today and nobody knows where oil price will be next year or two years down the road – but what is predictable is that the regulation on emissions is going to get tougher in the various markets where we are present. So, our EV strategy is here not only to face too much dependence on oil or the cost of oil, but also to allow us to meet the very stringent regulations on emissions that are happening and will be happening in the future. So I can bet you that more and more car makers are coming to EVs and they're going to continue to build and sell EVs, even though the price of oil is coming down." The bit about oil prices and electric vehicles starts at 1:35 into the video. News Source: Nissan via YouTube Green Nissan Renault Emissions Gas Prices Electric Videos oil prices

Watch a Nissan GT-R make up 17 spots on the first lap

By now, enthusiasts should be plenty used to seeing the Nissan GT-R passing "lesser" vehicles on the road - and let's face it, that accounts for a good 99-percent of other cars out there. But what about on the racetrack, where GT racers are all homologated to the same general specifications and tuned with an eye toward fairer competition?
Turns out Godzilla is just as formidable an adversary on the track, as demonstrated by this latest video. Shot from inside the cabin of British driver Alex Buncombe's GT3 racer during the Blancpain Endurance Series race at Monza, the video shows what happens (or at least happened this time) when a well-driven GT-R is relegated to the back of the grid - even when that grid is populated by the likes of Porsche, Aston Martin, Lamborghini and McLaren.
Buncombe and his teammates in the Nissan GT Academy Team RJN ultimately finished the race in 13th place, but what's remarkable is that they started way back in 32nd, making up 17 places on the first lap alone. Scope out the frenetic action in the video below.