Nissan Lays Out Plans for 2013 Tokyo Auto Salon

As one would expect, Nissan is going to display several vehicles at Japan's largest tuning event of the year, next year's Tokyo Auto Salon 2013 with NAPAC, which will be held from January 11 to 13. Read more »

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Nissan Says “Look Who’s Talking” After Fiat Implied that the Leaf is a Visual Pollution

It seems that “green” vehicles are the new field of confrontation between big automotive groups. After Ford attacked Toyota’s Prius claiming it’s inferior to the Blue Oval’s C-MAX Energi, Nissan and Fiat got into a fight about their EVs' designs.

Before the launch of the all-electric 500e at last week’s LA Auto Show, head of Fiat product marketing Matt Davis told Bloomberg News: “Let’s be honest, ugliness is probably one of the worst forms of pollution. The Fiat 500e proves that you do not have to give up on good looks to deliver an electric car.”

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Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn Admits Leaf EV will Fall Way Short of its 2012 Sales Target

Last March, during the New York Auto Show, Carlos Ghosn, the CEO of the Renault-Nissan alliance, told reporters that Nissan’s all-electric Leaf compact would double its 2011 sales this year.

Given that the Japanese carmaker shifted 9,679 units in 2011, the target was around 20,000 units for 2012. “We’re not worried about it”, said Ghosn. “I feel very good about this objective.”

In October, the Leaf sold 1,579 units, an increase of 86 percent compared to the same month last year. This was also its best month in 2012. Ghosn was right about feeling good, right?

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Nissan Unveils 2013 Leaf with New Electric Motor, Cheaper S Grade and Weight Savings of 80kg/176lbs

Some two years after its market launch, Nissan has presented an updated version of its Leaf EV that features a number of enhancements, the most important of which concern a new, more compact and significantly lighter electric powertrain, and the addition of a more affordable "S" grade.

The 2013 Leaf was unveiled in Japan on Tuesday, but Nissan officials recently confirmed that a similar suite of upgrades will be applied to the North American version, which will stop being imported from Japan and begin production at the brand's Smyrna factory in Tennessee this December, with sales to start in March 2013. The same should apply for the European version.

As mentioned, the highlight of the 2013 model is the revamped electric powertrain featuring new or redesigned components starting with the new electric motor, which will be used in the updated Leaf as well as the Renault-Nissan group's future hybrid electric vehicles (HEV).

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Eco-Conscious Nissan Leaf Stretch Limousine for Eight Goes Under the Hammer

As it turns out, the world's first street-legal electric limousine based on the Nissan Leaf didn't hold its job at the Embassy suites hotel in Nashville, Tennesse, for long as we found the car listed for sale on eBay with a starting bid of $50,000 (equal to €39,400 or GBP 31,500) and a 'Buy it now price' of $57,000 (€44,900 or GBP 35,900).

We first came to know of the existence of the Leaf stretch limo back in the summer from Nissan itself, which even released a video of the eight-passenger model (see below).

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