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Bret Michaels Poisons Nissan's commercial trucking ops

Mötley Crüe isn't the only 1980s hair-metal band getting into the world of auto promotion. Poison frontman and reality show star Bret Michaels is following their lead and doing some advertising of his own. Where the Crüe have been all over the airwaves in recent years with a Super Bowl ad for Kia and music licensing with Dodge, Michaels has taken a very different route by becoming the pitchman for Nissan Commercial Vehicles.
The videos run the gamut to advertise predominantly the NV line of full-size vans, but the NV200 shows up a few times too. The star of this new campaign is Michaels' full-length music video (above) for the song Tough Love. It's basically a parody of all of those '80s rock ballads where the bands would slow the tempo down a little and reveal their softer side. Michaels rocks out at the Nissan proving grounds in Stanfield, AZ, while showing off the evaluation process and strutting around like a proper rock frontman. There are also a bunch of shorter videos (below) with the singer highlighting each part of the vans' torture testing. Although, the dialogue in these come off a bit more stilted. With these '80s metal bands getting into advertising, can it be long before Warrant is shilling for Fiat or Ratt for Mazda?

Recharge Wrap-up: Eigg's renewable energy grid, Wulin City Car EV looks like i3

Scotland's Isle of Eigg's electrical grid relies solely on wind, hydro and solar power. It's the first grid of its kind after switching to renewable energy from noisy, unreliable diesel generators. Scotland's renewable resources are fodder for supporters of independence form the UK, and Eigg is a perfect example of that potential. Besides being a responsible community, it also seems like a lovely place to visit. Read more at Reuters. London Mayor Boris Johnson is calling for incentives for diesel vehicle scrapping. The goal is to improve London's air quality, encourage the purchase of clean vehicles and offset the inconvenience of charging diesel cars to enter the city's proposed Ultra Low Emissions Zone. Read more at Green Car Congress or in the press release below. BMW, Nissan, Renault and Volkswagen are teaming up to create a better EV charging infrastructure in the UK and Ireland. As part of the Trans-European Transport Network (T-ENT) program, the group aims to create extended EV-friendly roadways with the UK Rapid Charge Network, connecting major cities on the islands. Plans for the network include 70 rapid chargers along 684 miles of road. The four manufacturers also want to extend the project to mainland Europe to encourage the adoption of EVs. Read more at Hybrid Cars. Wuling is working on an EV, called City Car, which liberally takes visual cues from the BMW i3. The City Car EV concept is slated to make its debut in November at the Guangzhou Auto Show, while a production version could make its way onto Chinese roads next year. We might have to wait until the debut to know what powers the City Car, as those details haven't been released yet. General Motors is a 43-percent stakeholder in Wuling. Read and see more at Car News China. Taxi customers in New York will enjoy greater payment flexibility with the new interoperability between RideLinQ and Way2ride apps. Now customers will be able to use either app to pay in any of the city's 20,000 green and yellow taxis. There's no need for separate apps for separate cabs, and no need for drivers to install any new equipment. The groups behind the apps hope to expand this functionality to other cities across the country. Read more in the press release below.

Nissan expands, shrinks Leaf recall for missing weld points

Chalk this one up to the quirks of the English language. The other day, we had a post on the recall of a small number of 2014 Nissan Leaf EVs that were missing weld spots. The official bulletin from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said that "any vehicle missing welds will be replaced, free of charge." We read that as saying that the welds would be replaced, but in fact it's the cars themselves that will be swapped out. NHTSA said that 211 Leafs were potentially involved in this recall, but we heard from Brian Brockman, Nissan's senior manager of corporate communications, that Nissan is actually looking at, "approximately 276" vehicles. More importantly, Brockman clarified that, "If a vehicle is found to be missing the welds, the entire vehicle will be replaced." NHTSA documents on Inside EVs show that Nissan expects just 0.65 percent of those Leafs will need to be replaced. Brockman wouldn't say exactly how many cars Nissan thinks are affected, but 0.65 percent of 276 is just 1.8 vehicles. Brockman did say that, "you'd be correct to say that we expect the number to be very low." Read Nissan's full statement below. Nissan is conducting a Voluntary Recall Campaign on approximately 276 MY2014 LEAF vehicles to inspect the front member assembly welds. Due to an isolated supplier process error that has been corrected, a small number of vehicles within a subset of MY2014 LEAF vehicles manufactured during a two-week period may have front frame member assembly components that were not welded to proper specification. This can affect crash performance. Within the next few weeks, affected LEAF owners will be asked to bring their vehicle to a certified Nissan LEAF dealer for an inspection. If the vehicle is determined to be affected, Nissan will provide owners with a brand new replacement vehicle at no additional cost. A loaner vehicle will be provided during the vehicle exchange process. It is anticipated that only a handful of retailed vehicles are affected by the weld issue and require vehicle replacement. Nissan is committed to a high level of customer service and satisfaction and is working with its dealers to provide an outstanding ownership experience to Nissan LEAF owners.