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FCA-Renault merger talks: France wants job guarantees and Nissan on board

PARIS — France will seek protection of local jobs and other guarantees in exchange for supporting a merger between carmakers Renault and Fiat Chrysler, its finance minister said on Tuesday, underscoring the challenges facing the plan. Renault Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard arrived in Japan to discuss the proposed tie-up with the French company's existing partner Nissan — another potential obstacle to the $35 billion-plus merger of equals. Renault and Italian-American rival Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) are in talks to tackle the costs of far-reaching technological and regulatory changes by creating the world's third-biggest automaker. Nissan found out about Renault's merger talks with Fiat Chrysler only days before they became public, four sources told Reuters, stoking fears at the Japanese carmaker that a deal could further weaken its position in a 20-year alliance with Renault. A deal between Renault and FCA would create a player ranked behind only Japan's Toyota and Germany's Volkswagen and target 5 billion euros ($5.6 billion) a year in savings. Some analysts, however, say the companies face a challenge to win over powerful stakeholders ranging from the French and Italian governments to trade unions and Nissan. Patrick Pelata, a former Renault chief operating officer, also criticized the deal plan for undervaluing Renault and threatening to overstretch its engineering resources. By valuing Renault at its market price, the all-share offer attributes a negative 6 billion euro value to Renault operations after deduction of its 43.4% stake in Nissan and 3.1% Daimler holding, Pelata told BFM radio. "That's hardly reasonable," he said. "And I think that shareholders, including the French state, are bound to take issue with this sooner or later." Pelata added: "FCA has big problem because they haven't invested for the future — they have no electric vehicle platform and they've done nothing in autonomous cars." French finance minister Bruno Le Maire told RTL radio on Tuesday that the plan was a good opportunity for both Renault and the European car industry, which has been struggling for years with overcapacity and subdued demand. France sets conditions Le Maire also said the French government would seek four guarantees in exchange for backing a deal that would reduce its 15% stake in Renault to 7.5% of the combined entity. "The first: industrial jobs and industrial sites.

Nissan recalls Rogue, Pathfinder, Infiniti QX60 for seat issue

Nissan and Infiniti are recalling their 2023 Rogue, Pathfinder and QX60 SUVs and CUVs to address a potential defect in their seat frame welds that can allow the frames to fail in the event of a collision. The number of vehicles that potentially shipped with weak welds is rather small — just over 12,000 — but the issue could nonetheless lead to injury if a failure occurs during a collision.  "The driverÂ’s powered seat may not be fully secured to the seat frame on certain Nissan Rogue, Pathfinder, and INFINTI QX60 vehicles," Nissan's report to NHTSA said. "As a result of this issue, the seat frame welds may detach from the rear inboard seat bracket. If this condition occurs, it may increase the risk of injury to the occupant in the event of a crash. In addition, the seat frame assembly may not meet certain FMVSS 207 and FMVSS 210 requirements because of this condition," Nissan said.  Nissan says there's no easy way for customers to detect the issue ahead of time, and that its seats need to be inspected by a service tech to see whether it is properly secured. Dealers will be instructed to check the driverÂ’s seat rail clearance to the inboard seat bracket, and if necessary, the dealer will remove and replace the affected driverÂ’s seat cushion frame, NIssan said. The entire procedure should take less than two hours.  Owners of affected vehicles should look for notices to be delivered no later than June.  Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Recalls Infiniti Nissan Crossover SUV Luxury

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.