Blog of RENAULT NISSAN Alliance

•    €400 million investment generates capacity of up to 350,000 cars annually across three brands.
•    After Lada Largus, separate models from Nissan and Renault will follow.
•    This new production line contributes to the three partners’ common goal: achieve capacity of at least 1.6 million vehicles per year in Russia by 2016.

TOGLIATTI, Russia – April 4, 2012 -- Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin inaugurated a new car manufacturing facility today, marking the latest milestone in the expanding Renault-Nissan Alliance and AVTOVAZ partnership.

Which is Europe’s most eco-conscious city? Nissan aims to find out with the launch of a far-reaching campaign designed to ‘turn on’ one million people to the benefits of electric vehicles (EVs) in just 100 days.

The Big Turn On will use digital and social media to switch Europe on to a zero-emission future. Advocates in the UK, the Netherlands, France and Germany will be encouraged to pledge their support for EVs by clicking the ‘turn on’ button on the campaign’s website – www.thebigturnon.com.

Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn returned to the automaker’s Iwaki factory Monday, a little more than one year after a devastating earthquake temporarily crippled production.

Ghosn, touring the plant he last visited in May 2011, described Iwaki’s recovery as miraculous.

“It has been remarkable. The plant has produced 300,000 engines this year, even though these events have happened,” Ghosn told the Global Media Center.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, through his initiative on Sustainable Energy for All, is challenging governments and private companies to use traditional energy resources more efficiently and expand the use of renewable energy sources.

I’ve agreed to help find solutions because this issue is critical to the future of my industry – auto making. About 25% of global oil output is used to fuel cars and light trucks. That’s about 1 billion tons of petrol a year. Meanwhile, the planet’s demographics and energy needs are shifting dramatically. In my lifetime, the world’s population has grown from 2.7 billion to more than 7 billion people. In 1999, consumers in China bought 600,000 vehicles. Last year, Chinese consumers bought more than 17 million vehicles.

For millions of consumers joining the middle class across the developing world, a car is the first thing they want to buy. In the United States, there are about 800 cars per 1,000 people; across Europe, it’s an average of 500 vehicles per 1,000 people. This contrasts with China, where there are only 50 vehicles per 1,000 people, and India, where it’s 15.

People living in these countries – and other emerging markets that will drive global economic growth in the decades ahead –want the same level of personal mobility consumers enjoy in advanced economies today.

Deep beneath the earth, 100 miles south east of Nashville, Tennessee, lies a marvel of nature. The Cumberland Caverns, which stretch for more than 27 miles/43 km, are among the largest caves in the world. And now they’ve become the latest proving ground for Nissan LEAF.

Carved out by nature over the past three million years, the Caverns are a mecca for visitors, adventurers… and for music fans from all over America.

Nissan is adding a third brand to its global lineup: Datsun

Earlier this week, Nissan’s CEO announced the return of the Datsun brand – synonymous with affordability and reliability - which it phased out in 1986. Datsun will provide sustainable motoring to first-time buyers in high-growth markets. Datsun represents 80 years of accumulated Japanese carmaking expertise and is an important part of Nissan's heritage. Datsun vehicles will go on sale in India, Indonesia, and Russia from 2014. Listen to what Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn had to say about the brand’s return at this recent press conference in Yokohama, Japan.

Fancy driving from Canada all the way down to the Mexico border without any tailpipe emissions? Well, before long, drivers in America will be able to do just that.

The first stage of the West Coast Electric Highway has been opened, giving drivers of electric vehicles a network of charging stations covering the southern Oregon corridor of the Interstate 5 highway.

Situated at roughly 25 mile/40 km intervals, the first eight charging stations were officially opened last week. Two further stations will be opened in the spring to cover a stretch of I-5 almost 300 miles/480 kms long.

Professional driver Michael Krumm and his wife, Japanese tennis legend Kimiko Date-Krumm, will soon take ownership of a Nissan LEAF. In this video interview, German-born Krumm talks about their decision to drive a zero-emission car.

Krumm, one of three drivers taking the wheel of the new Nissan DeltaWing at the Sebring endurance race in Florida this weekend, also describes his passion for testing EVs and their potential future in racing.

Amsterdam - In the European capital estimated to have more bicycles than people, Amsterdam’s zero-emission push is finding a 21st Century foothold: electric taxis.

Last November, private company TAXI-E began service of a green fleet of 10 Nissan LEAFs in the city called “The Venice of the North”.

Each one of Amsterdam’s 3,000 taxis normally emits up to 35 times more carbon dioxide than a regular car.

And that, to TAXI-E founders Ruud Zandvliet and Edvard Hendriksen, signaled a green-field opportunity.

“Funny enough, we saw the Nissan LEAF entering the market and that was, for us, the moment we thought it’s probably possible to start a successful taxi business using electric cars powered on green energy, and we can greenify a traditionally polluting market,” said Zandvliet.

It is now a year since the tragic events of March 11, 2011, one of the darkest days in Japan’s recent history and a crisis that tested the spirit of the nation.

The magnitude-9 earthquake that struck the Tohoku region of northeast Japan, and the devastating tsunami that followed, left at least 20,000 people dead or missing, and among those casualties were five of our employees and 17 family members of staff.

Our Iwaki plant was some distance from the worst devastation and thankfully spared from loss of life, but still badly damaged.