Shanghai, September 25, 2008 (Gasgoo.com) By Kelly

Dongfeng Nissan, a joint venture between Nissan Motor Co and Dongfeng Motor Corp, will develop a C-platform sedan in its own research and development (R&D) center by 2012, Dongfeng Nissan vice general manager Ren Yong said to Beijing Times on September 19.

The model’s design and research will be completed between 2010 and 2012, Ren disclosed. The R&D center of Dongfeng Nissan passenger vehicles has embarked on the work for this new model.

As an all-new C-platform sedan, the new model’s intellectual property rights will belong to Dongfeng Nissan, but the model will also carry the Nissan logo, Ren said. However, if Nissan Motor would like to produce the model in other global enterprises, they need to pay Dongfeng Nissan the technology transfer fee, he added.

Ren also said that after 2010, the R&D center of Dongfeng Nissan Passenger Vehicles Co will develop cars at the same time with Nissan’s other R&D centers in the world.

It is reported that the C-platform originally belonged to Nissan. Several models are born from this platform, including Sentra, Serena and Dongfeng Nissan’s X-Trail and Qashqai.

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The slumping U.S. auto market reduced vehicle production in August at most major Japanese automakers, according to data released Thursday.

Toyota Motor Corp., the nation’s top automaker, saw worldwide production dive 15.5 percent last month from a year earlier at 626,745 vehicles.

Toyota marked its on-year overseas production decrease in more than six years amid a slowdown in Europe and North America, while production in sluggish Japan also dropped on year, it said.

Honda Motor Co. reported its best vehicle production ever in China for August but saw production in troubled U.S. plunge 10.2 percent from the previous year. Japan’s second biggest automaker produced 295,541 vehicles worldwide in August, down 4.8 percent on year.

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In a press conference held at the 62nd Hannover Motor Show, Nissan announced plans that will lead to a doubling of LCV business revenues and top level customer satisfaction in the LCV market globally.

As part of a plan to introduce 13 all new products during its GT 2012 mid term business plan period, Nissan will introduce a small van globally in 2009. The vehicle, inspired by the NV200 Concept first presented at the Tokyo Motor Show in 2007, will hit the road in Japan next spring and then in Europe, as well as in several other markets, in the second half of 2009.

Like the concept vehicle, the all-new small van will be named NV200. Its attractive design will combine with practicality, convenience, low-running costs and high quality. With a smart configuration of its layout, the NV200 will offer class leading cargo space.

Reflecting the importance of reduced fuel consumption and emissions to LCV fleets in Europe, Nissan announced its on-going development to mass market a hybrid-powered light commercial vehicle by the end of 2012. The Hybrid Cabstar prototype presented at this year’s Hannover Motor Show demonstrates Nissan’s commitment to LCV hybrid technology, coupled with state of the art battery technology.

It was developed in partnership with powertrain specialists ZF.

It will spend a high proportion of its working life in urban areas, where stop and start traffic is the norm. Nissan estimates that reductions in CO2 and fuel consumption will amount to up to 30%.

“We have not yet reached our full potential,” said Andy Palmer, Corporate Vice president, Nissan Motor Company, LCV Business Unit. “We aim to expand our business much further with smart new products and services that meet the needs of our customers, both in Europe and around the world.”

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Nissan Motor Co.,Ltd., today announced details of its quality improvement program “Nissan GT 2012 - Quality Leadership”, one of the three commitments outlined in the company’s five year mid-term business plan, Nissan GT 2012 announced in May 2008.　The program aims for leadership in four quality areas, perceived quality / product attractiveness, product quality, sales and service quality, and quality of management.

In this program, objectives are formulated across six indices with seven Nissan Excellence Program (NEP) global teams setup to achieve these goals. Headed by a corporate officer, the NEP teams will address seven key issues including improvement in engineering quality, production quality, breakdown quality, customer service qualities in sales and service, countermeasure lead time, and supplier quality. The NEP teams already started preparation of “Nissan GT 2012 - Quality Leadership” in May, 2007 and moved into the operational phase in April this year.

The six objectives of “Nissan GT 2012 - Quality Leadership”

• To halve warranty claim rates for first three months in service after delivery
• To halve supplier parts defect rate
• To halve breakdown ratio compared to FY2007
• To halve lead time from occurrence of defect to preparation of new parts
• To double regions where SSI (Sales Satisfaction Index) and CSI (Customer Service Index) are only Nissan as top level
• To double the number of models which are rated high in perceived quality by both internal and external matrix

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Japanese automakers insist they will move forward with eco-car manufacturing as planned despite their failure to obtain changes in some specifications.

According to an automotive industry source, the Japanese carmakers expressed disappointment that Industry Ministry officials had turned down their requests, but confirmed the project would continue.

“The first eco-cars will be introduced into the market as planned,” he said.

The manufacturers had asked the ministry to relax some of the strict and potentially costly environmental conditions set by the Board of Investment (BoI) when it approved their investment privileges.

“Even though the board approved privileges for the six automakers last year for their eco-car manufacturing projects, some of the firms were lobbying to see if some conditions could be altered,” said the source.

Representatives from Toyota, Nissan and Mitsubishi discussed their request with Chakramon Phasukvanich, the permanent secretary for the Industry Ministry, last week.

But the source said Mr Chakramon turned them down, saying that the cabinet had already approved the conditions for investment promotion.

The Japanese companies also asked if their eco-cars allocated for export need to abide by BoI requirements.

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Nissan Motor Company has announced that cumulative production at its Dongfeng Nissan Passenger Vehicle Company (DFL PV) has reached one million units. The milestone comes just five years after the company was established.

“We’re proud to have produced one million units in only five years,” said Toshiaki Otani, managing director of DFL PV. “This achievement has been possible through the work of dedicated Nissan personnel who have the advantage of being able to build quality products at two state-of-the-art DFL PV plants, the benchmarks for Nissan’s global plants.”

The milestone vehicle is an all-new X-Trail, scheduled to reach showrooms in early November and the fourth model to launch from DFL PV this year. The company makes a full line of luxury and midsize sedans, hatchbacks, multi-purpose vehicles and crossovers at two facilities in China, and has also produced its first two exports that will be sold in Egypt through the local Nissan distribution network.

Nissan’s total Chinese sales from January to August 2008 were 354,437 units, an increase of 20 per cent versus the prior year. The company has targeted sales of 500,000 units for the Chinese market in 2008.

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MUMBAI: Paris-based auto major Renault has chosen India to provide a larger role in designing its ultra low-cost car that it is developing with two-wheeler major Bajaj Auto, as a growing interest in economical cars in emerging markets drives the plans of most auto majors.

This is a marked departure from Renault’s previous plans when such assignments were evenly spread across the company’s other centres globally.

Till now, if Renault had to develop any new product all the design centres across the world would work at it and Paris would take a final call. Since it’s the first time that Renault is developing an ultra low-cost car in India, it has decided that Mumbai’s design centre will provide the main design framework, with other design centres across the world providing smaller inputs for the ULC. The Nissan design team is also understood to be providing inputs on designing the small car.

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If you can recognize 1989 nissan march superturbo 110 hp under 1,000 cc.capactiies to fast for fun,It will return to same feeling there in 2010 nissan march turbo has the new 1.0-litre three-cylinder petrol super-turbo unit will deliver excellent performance by 140bhp at 6,000rpm So it should be powerful enough for a 0-60mph time of around 8 seconds, plus low emissions with 120g/km of CO2 and strong fuel economy with 23.8 km/litre.

The exterior 2010 march turbo kit derived inspiration from GT-R looking.

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It’s a new car but will have three different names. For the first time in the Indian automobile history, the same car—made in India—will don three different badges in the global market.

Maruti Suzuki, manufacturer of the car, will brand it A-Star in India. The same car will be contract-manufactured by Maruti for Nissan Motors and called Pixo. And it will be the new Alto for Suzuki Motor Corporation in Europe. The car will be manufactured exclusively by Maruti Suzuki’s plant at Manesar in Haryana and will be unveiled by both companies at the Paris Motor Show next month at their respective pavilions.

Both Nissan Pixo and Suzuki Alto will compete against Toyota Aygo in the international market while it will be pitted against Hyundai i10, Fiat Palio and Tata Motors Indica Vista in the premium small-car segment in India. An MSI spokesperson refused to comment and said: “A-Star has nothing to do with Alto, which will continue to be the flagship model of Maruti Suzuki in India. It is a totally different segment.”

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Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. has launched a revised version of the popular Otti minicar, which goes on sale today at Nissan dealers nationwide.

The Nissan Otti, which debuted in October 2006, is known for its simple, boxy styling and roomy, high utility interior. Marketed under the slogan “SHIFT_365 days: Minicars for daily living,” the Otti fits easily into the typical multi-story garage. Key refinements to the new model include redesigned exterior and interior treatments, improved fuel efficiency and reduced emissions, a reorganized grade selection and new exterior colors.

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