Nissan Motor Company has recently acquired the light Nissan parts tuning division of the Nissan Motorsports International Company (or NISMO). This was done so that such service may be availed easily as this will be evenly distributed in Nissan dealerships across Japan.

The division of light Nissan parts tuning has a bigger following compared to motor sports tuning. For that, the service that has a bigger demand has to reach more customers, thus Nissan took hold of the light-tune auto parts business. In this set up, more Nissan owners that are seeking expertise on NISMO light auto parts and tuning can avail of the service practically in any Nissan dealer in Japan.

Aside from benefiting the light-tune parts customers, the reorganization is also a convenient for NISMO heavy-tune parts division. With the light tuning division out from its wing, this Nissan affiliate can further focus more on developing and tweaking NISMO performance parts of racers and enthusiasts geared for the speed world or other motor shows.

Customizing and tuning are some of the booming markets in the automobile industry that Nissan has taken advantage of in its homeland. In a few years, the company is also planning to bring the same services abroad.

Source: Auto Spectator.

Nissan Motor Company, along with fellow Japanese automaker Honda Motor Company, has a bigger chance of making it big in terms of volume sales this year as its fuel-efficient vehicles have achieved a following in the United States and have sold a good number of other models in Russia and China.

Nissan and Honda, along with Toyota Motor Corporation, are all doing great in terms of sales in booming markets China and Russia. According to the five consolidated estimates done by Bloomberg, Nissan posed an increase of as much as 26 percent, which translates to 131.5 billion yen, in its sales by the last quarter of 2007. In the U.S. market, Nissan posted a 5.1 percent increase. Honda, on the other hand, recorded a 2.3 percent increase or $1.39 from October to December 31 based on six estimates.

The cost of gas contributed a lot to the car preference of a lot of drivers in America. With the price of gasoline reaching as much as $3 per gallon, more motorists in the United States have decided to use fuel efficient vehicles. Compact cars like the Nissan Versa or Honda Fit are more preferred than big pick-up trucks or sport utility vehicles, which are mostly from American automakers Ford and General Motors, that tend to consume too much gas. This factor further boosted Nissan and other automobile companies from Japan to rank.

“Japanese brands are very strong in emerging markets thanks to their quality and durability,” said Koichi Ogawa of Tokyo’s Daiwa SB Investments Ltd. “Expertise in building small cars will continue driving Japanese automakers’ sales higher.”

Such progress proved to be a relief for Nissan, which is hailed as the third-biggest Japanese automobile company, as it suffered a 23 percent set back two years ago. To date, this was the lowest annual profit of the automaker. The seen culprit for it was the lack of new models from Nissan.

To avoid being in the slumps again again, Nissan’s Chief executive officer Carlos Ghosn has laid out plans of releasing 11 models this year. The pool of cars will be made of brand new and spruced up Nissan vehicles that will all be equipped with quality Nissan parts. If all things go well, Nissan may eventually fully establish its brand in the U.S. market.

Source: Bloomberg.

It is all about giving back this New Year. Employees of a Nissan dealership in Montreal, Canada gave a big sum of $6,000 to Sun Youth Organization (SYO) as a way of looking after the not so privileged big families in the vicinity of the largest city in Quebec.According to the Nissan employees, the amount given is from the dealership and from their own pockets as a way to show how much they value and support the activities of SYO. Aside from the money, a brand new Nissan Altima and Nissan Quest minivan were given to the co-founders of SYO. These vehicles, which are equipped with high-performing Nissan Parts, will not be used for personal purposes but these will actually serve as emergency vans for the charity group. Nissan Altima, on the other hand, will aid the several services done by SYO, like the Seniors Club, will also greatly benefit from these Nissan models.

“Sun Youth is an important resource to many families and individuals in the Montréal area” said Wendy Durward, who is the marketing communications director for Nissan Montreal. “Nissan employees are proud of the communities in which we work and live, and we wanted to show our support to our neighbors and start the New Year in a positive way”.

SYO, which is a Montreal-based group, provides utmost care, guidance, and financial support to the poor and big families in the city. The money given by Nissan Montreal will aid the 50-year-old charity organization for carrying out its food programs, recreation centers, clothing bank, and seniors club.

Source: Auto 123.

After the sapphire-blue Nissan Versa sedan graced the debut season of the hit NBC series Heroes, another model from the Japanese automobile company is set to take center stage in the second season set to role out in Asia this month.

In season one, the Nissan Versa was used by Heroes character Hiro Nakamura, along with Ando, in his trip from Los Angeles to New York. Last fall, viewers in the United States saw the new crossover sport utility vehicle offering of the company dubbed as the Nissan Rogue. This vehicle was given to Claire Bennet, who is the cheerleader, by her father. Another blatant Nissan promotion angle in the story is that one of the characters has to work for the brand’s dealership.With the successful promotion of the Nissan models, all equipped with high-performing Nissan Parts, in Heroes, the automobile company decided to carry out the campaign and sponsor the series in Asia, where there is also a big following.

“Our promotion campaign for Season Two in the US was very successful and we wanted to extend this to Asia as part of our global brand-building activity”, said Simon Sproule, corporate vice president of Global Communications.Nissan Rogue, which shares some qualities and Nissan Parts with the Nissan X-Trail, was released in the United States last September.

Source: Brudirect

The partnership of Japanese automobile company Nissan Motor Co. and French automaker Renault, along with the software entrepreneur Shai Agassi, is aiming to produce an electric car line for the motorists of Israel that is set to come out in 2011.

Coming up with a new line of electric vehicles for Israel is one of the many steps to be taken by Nissan and Renault in order to strengthen and to widen their market across the globe. These companies will be taking care of the vehicles and auto parts (Renault and Nissan Parts) to use for the electric vehicles. Agassi’s Project Better Place, which is a company that focuses on green technology in vehicles, on the other hand, is going to manage the construction and operation of the recharging networks for the electric cars.

Why develop electric cars for Israel? According to Carlos Ghosn, who is the chief executive officer of both Nissan and Renault, Israel is a relatively small country. It only measures around 21,000 square kilometers (or 8,100 square miles). Such land size is actually similar to that of New Jersey’s.

“In Israel, where 90 percent of the people drive less than 70 kilometers a day, a car with 100-kilometer range would satisfy most of the population’s transportation needs,” said Ghosn.

At present, emerging electric cars usually costs higher than the regular automobiles, such as gasoline-powered vehicles. The Nissan-Renault CEO, however, pointed that motorists in Israel do not need to worry about the price as the cost will just be around a regular vehicle. Moreover, maintenance of the electric car is not going to be expensive, according to Nissan-Renault.

The Lithium-ion batteries, which are actually staples for laptops and mobile phones, are going to be installed for these electric cars. This NEC Corporation and Nissan-developed battery will function as the main power source of these futuristic vehicles. A total of 500, 000 recharging point will be scattered all over Israel for convenience of the owners. Supplementing the lithium-ion battery is a 1.6-liter engine. According to the companies developing the electric car, these vehicles guarantee no emissions of any sort.

“For first time, all the conditions necessary for electric vehicles to be successfully mass-marketed will be brought together in a partnership between Renault, Nissan and Project Better Place,” said Renault, Nissan, and Project Better Place.

Aside from distributing these electric cars in Israel, CEO Ghosn said that these vehicles are also set to reach other countries. For now, however, Nissan-Renault, along with Project Better Place, focuses on Israel with a target of 10,000 to 20, 000 units every year.

Source: Bloomberg.

Despite the plummeting state of the U.S. dollar, Japanese car company Nissan is putting a positive outlook that it can still manage to pull off excellent vehicle sales this year in its other booming markets that include Brazil, India, Russia, and China.

According to Toshiyuki Shiga, who is the chief operating officer of Nissan Motor Company, the dreary stock market of the United States may cause Nissan to be set aside by motorists and by the stocks.

“It is quite difficult to take an optimistic attitude toward the U.S. market,” said Toshiyuki at a news conference.

The dollar may be in its dark era, Nissan made sure that it is not that affected as it can adjust to such economic situation. In fact, raw auto parts for Nissan models are all sourced in Japan. Using only the raw materials that are manufactured locally make this automobile company, which is the third largest in Japan, protected from any fluctuation in the U.S. dollar currency. Carlos Ghosn, who is the chief executive officer of Nissan, backed this statement up by emphasizing that the inflation of the yen versus the dollar since November did not affect the company’s long-term goals.

This coming new fiscal year, the company may also be up for a decrease in demand in Japan. Such possible scenario, however, is already being offset by cutting the company’s costs.

“We are in good shape,” said Toshiyuki.

By March, which is the end of the 2007 fiscal year of Nissan, the company aims to achieve its 3.76 million Nissan units goal and its $7.5 billion (or 800 billion yen) operating earnings. Furthermore, the company is also set to produce a compact car that will go against India’s Tata Motors Limited’s Nano and is keen to launch an electric car in Israel by 2011.

For the current fiscal year ending March, the company has targeted for global sales 3.76 million vehicles, equipped with precision-engineered Nissan Parts, and operating profit of 800 billion yen ($7.5 billion).

Source: Wall Street Journal Online.

Nissan has decided to launch a direct mail campaign for its Nissan Sports Adventure range which will be developed by Tullo Marshall Warren (TMW). The creative to be used on the direct mail campaign is based on the theme of the Nissan Sports Adventure range and it will carry the tag “Inspire the adventurer in you.”

What this campaign hopes to accomplish is for customers to be encouraged to request for a brochure, get an appointment for a test drive and eventually be encouraged to buy one of the 4×4 or crossover vehicles of the Japanese automaker. These 4×4 vehicles and crossover vehicles of Nissan include the Nissan X-Trail, Nissan Navara, Pathfinder, Patrol, and QASHQAI.

The Japanese automaker is expecting that the pack will be sent to around 40,000 Nissan customers, cold prospects, and warm leads.

He above-the-line advertising for the Sports Adventure range of Nissan was the basis for the brochure and it contains a lot of ‘adventure passes.’ Among the adventure passes customers can enjoy are a ski pass or a mountain bike pass and these can be shown through the clear plastic wallet outer.

That’s not all. The initiatives also offer Nissan Sports Adventure DVD packs for free to the first 1,000 people who would test drive any vehicles from the Nissan Sports Adventure range. It also comes with a chance to enter a prize draw to win a sports adventure holiday. The prize include a safari in Uganda to touring in San Francisco. The pack also comes with an incentivised questionnaire which aims to identify the time customers will most likely buy a change for their cars through some specific trigger dates. The incentive of the questionnaire is the opportunity to enter a contest and win a year’s supply of fuel worth £2,000. But that is only if they have completed the questionnaire and returned it.

The account supervisor at TMW, Anthony Da Silva, said, “We want to inspire Nissan customers to try something new, and we believe the creative for the mailpack will encourage them to test drive one of the vehicles from the Nissan Sports Adventure range in order to make their adventures possible.”

The 2008 Nissan Rogue is one lucky small crossover vehicle. It has gone ahead with a good start and now the leading supplier of automatic-dimming rearview mirror has decided to ship its product to be used for interior rearview mirrors for the 2008 Nissan Rogue. None other than the Gentex Corporation itself made the announcement of its plan to ship its automatic-dimming rearview mirrors to the 2008 Nissan Rogue. Gentex shipping for the 2008 Nissan Rogue is beneficial to the Japanese automaker as the model is Nissan’s first entry to the small crossover SUV market and so it needs to be equipped with the high-quality Nissan parts especially since it targets the auto markets of U.S, Canada and Mexico.

Enoch Jen, the Senior Vice President of Gentex Corporation, said, “Gentex is excited to be a partner with Nissan on the automaker’s first foray into the small crossover SUV market. We look forward to continuing to build our relationship with Nissan and working with them to offer innovative products on its expanding vehicle lineup.”

The Nissan Rogue will then be available with an auto-dimming mirror with HomeLink or with both a compass display and HomeLink as part of its optional Leather Package on the AWD SL trim-level vehicles. the compass feature makes use of the proprietary Z-Nav technology of Gentex. This has a very sensitive and highly-accurate sensor which determines the vehicle’s directional heading. The automotive mirrors that Gentex Corporation provides automatically darken in response to the headlight glare of rearward-approaching vehicles. And HomeLink is Johnson Control’s fully integrated wireless control system.

Nissan wants to save fuel – that is the Japanese automaker’s long-term plan. Its strategy is to reduce the weight of all its vehicles by up to 15^th percent and by 2015, it should have accomplished its mission. This would give way for a better fuel economy and so this is Nissan’s way of winning customers.

What Nissan Motor Corporation plans to do is to increase the use of lighter materials such as plastic fiber, magnesium alloys, and aluminum for its Nissan parts. So, instead of using steel to ake its vehicles with, Executive Vice President of Nissan, Mitsuhiko Yamashita, said that it aims to use these lighter materials instead.

In US, the largest auto market, a gallon of gasoline is already selling at $3, making the cost of operation of vehicles increase. Thus, a lot of automakers, Nissan included, are producing more fuel efficient vehicles in order to combat this issue and at the same time, do not lose customers. Nissan’s plan of reducing the weight of its vehicles and eventually providing for a better fuel economy will also help it in meeting the requirements of fuel efficiency of US, Japan, and other auto markets which will eventually become more stringent.

Yamashita said, “Improving our cars’ fuel efficiency will boost our competitiveness as the price of oil surges. We want to comply with new rules before governments put them into practice.”

Also, by fiscal year 2015, Japan should have implemented its requirement for automakers to improve the fuel efficiency of their passenger cars by up to 23.5 percent. The United States has also made its move as President Goerge W. Bush has already signed a law last December that mandates a 40 percent increase in car and light-truck fuel economy by the year 2020. Thus, by that time, new models should already be able to average 35 miles per gallon of fuel.

2010 should also be the year that Nissan introduces its own gasoline-electric vehicle which will be powered by lithium-ion batteries and will be sold under the Infiniti brand.

Yamashita said, “”Infiniti has better odds.” This is because this model has the front engine and rear drive system which work well with the hybrid technology of Nissan.

Nissan has finally taken the wraps off its much-awaited Nissan GT-R racing car that’s complete with quality Nissan parts. This Nisan model intends to compete for the SUPER GT Series. It was during the Tokyo Auto Salon with NAPAC last January 11-13, 2008 that the Nissan GT-R racing car made its public debut. It will also be seen showcasing itself next on the Osaka Auto Messe 2008 which willhappen on February 9-11, 2008. The Japanese automaker sure knows the right avenues to present its racing car as these two auto shows are the country’s largest annual custom car shows.

The new works livery will be featured across the motorsports activities of the Japanese automaker during the 2008 season and this will be unveiled on the race car. Nissan wants to be a part of the SUPER GT Championship which is considered as one of the most demanding GT race series in the world. But since Nissan has built a new vehicle on the same multi-performance super car concept of the Nissan GT-R road car, Nissan believes that it might have a chance at the said championship.

The new livery is actually a result of the partnership between the design team of the Japanese automaker and NISMO, the motorsport affiliate of Nissan. Nissan also incorporated some of the feedbacks it got from the “Club NISMO” fan club.

the new Nissan GT-R racing car has the signature wide “brush stroke” design motif which is also the one used in the Nissan Fairlady Z race car. This is the design motif used because Nissan believes that the racing fans of Nissan worldwide could immediately associate with the design. The livery design swipes forward from the rear in bold red and black. The bold red color signifies the vehicle’s passion for racing. On the other hand, the black signifies the high-performance of the new Nissan GT-R racing car.