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Recharge Wrap-up: Honda releases "Green Dealer" Guide, Tesla's China president steps down

Honda has released its "Green Dealer" Guide to the public. The guide, which is used to outline ways for Honda and Acura dealerships to be more environmentally responsible can also help other businesses take the same steps to green up their practices, save energy and even save money in the process. The guide, which ranks dealers based on a points system, provides incentive to dealerships to implement the environmentally practices, but it also helps Honda assert itself as a leader for green business. Read more at Automotive News or in the press release below. Nissan Leaf owners in the UK love their car, and aren't looking back at their fossil-fueled past. According to a survey by Nissan, 93 percent use the EV as their main family vehicle. 89 percent report saving money driving, 64 percent prefer it to driving a conventionally powered car and 95 percent would recommend the car to a friend. Most said they wouldn't go back to a gas or diesel car. One owner even gave up his Aston Martin for a second Leaf so he and his wife wouldn't argue over who got to drive the EV to work each day. That's love. Read more at Next Green Car and at Hybrid Cars. Renault has outlined its future sustainable mobility plans, including two pieces of technology going into production cars soon. Renault will put a smaller, more efficient electric motor into production, as well as a three-cylinder dual-fuel gasoline/liquid petroleum gas engine. The HYDIVU prototype will help Renault research mild hybrid technology for light commercial vehicles. The VELUD project will look into making the last mile of urban deliveries more sustainable. Renault is also testing a two-cylinder, two-stroke diesel engine for small vehicle platforms. Read more in the press release below. Tesla's China president has resigned. Veronica Wu had been in charge of the company's operations in China for the past nine months, and with her leaving the company, Tom Zhu will step into the role. Jochen Siebert of Shanghai-based JSC Automotive Consulting says that, "Tesla counts on China as one of their main drivers of growth after California, and it might have been more difficult than they thought." Tesla states it is still "confident in the Chinese market," where it has sold the Model S since April. Read more at Bloomberg.

Renault's new Talisman smacks of Maxima [UPDATE]

UPDATE: Well, despite taking up virtually the same amount of space on the road, Nissan spokesperson Josh Clifton confirmed to Autoblog that there's "no linkage on the two vehicles," and that "they weren't developed in tandem." The story has been edited to reflect this information. While Renault and Nissan maintain a strong alliance, the amount of sharing between the two brands is generally pretty subtle. The two automakers haven't made a habit of rebadging the other's products, although we'd surely support rebadging the Renault Clio or Megane as the new Versa or Sentra, especially if the RenaultSport versions were rebadged as Nismo models. That's not likely to change with the new Renault Talisman The big four-door sedan is the latest vehicle to ride on Renault-Nissan's Common Module Family, which also underpins the current Espace MPV. While it may wear Renault's diamond logo and ride on the Espace's platform, the new Talisman sedan takes up almost exactly the same amount of space on the road as the new Nissan Maxima. There's less than two inches separating the two sedans' overall length and wheelbase, while differences in width and height are negligible. The similarities end with the size, though. While the Maxima is only offered with a 3.5-liter V6 and continuously variable transmission, the Talisman will be available with a range of four-cylinder engines. There will be three diesels, available in 110-horsepower, 130-hp, and 160-hp varieties, along with a pair of gas engines, delivering 150 and 200 hp, respectively. The diesels can only be mated to six-speed transmissions (manuals are available for the 110 and 130-hp models), while the petrol mills are limited to seven-speed dual-clutch units. The Renault will also offer four-wheel steering, in the form of the company's 4Control system, and active dampers. While not pictured here, the Talisman will also be offered as a five-door wagon. You can expect to see both the sedan and long-roof models when Renault shows its newest entries in September, at the 2015 Frankfurt Motor Show. Related Video: THE TALISMAN Renault's new saloon packs style and real driving enjoyment Renault is proud to reveal its new executive saloon. The evocatively named TALISMAN ticks all the boxes that D-segment customers have come to appreciate, while taking wellbeing and driving enjoyment to a new level. The Renault TALISMAN features a unique combination of: • Assertive styling: sleek, elegant lines.

NYC Taxi of Tomorrow ruled legal by appeals court

The streets of New York City might be filling up with a lot more Nissans in the next few years. A New York appeals court ruled that the city's mandate to replace old taxis with a fleet entirely made up of the Nissan NV200 Taxi of Tomorrow was legal. The decision overturned a previous ruling that decided The Big Apple couldn't force cabbies to all purchase the same vehicle.
Justice David B. Saxe wrote the court's opinion saying the Taxi of Tomorrow is a "legally appropriate response to the agency's statutory obligation to produce a 21st-century taxicab consistent with the broad interests and perspectives that the agency is charged with protecting," according to Bloomberg. The Greater New York Taxi Association, the plaintiff in the case, could still possibly attempt a second appeal.
Nissan originally won the 10-year contract estimated to be worth about $1 billion in 2011, beating out Ford and a Turkish company. Under the Taxi of Tomorrow plan, all New York cabbies would have to switch to the NV200 within three of five years of the van going into service, and it would replace the 16 vehicles previously authorized as taxis. In 2013, the mandate received multiple challenges though, including an attempted ban by cab drivers because the replacement wasn't a hybrid. In a separate case, state Supreme Court judge Schlomo Hagler decided that there was nothing in the city charter that forced a taxi driver to choose a specific vehicle. This was the case that was just overturned. In the meantime, the automaker has been selling the NV200 to New York cabbies at prices around $29,700.