Nissan to Begin Production of X-Trail and Teana Sedan in Russia

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Nissan president Carlos Ghosn took part in the opening ceremony of the Japanese automaker's first plant in Russia on Tuesday. Located at St. Petersburg, Nissan's new US$200 million assembly plant has a production capacity of 50,000 vehicles a year. The facility, which is scheduled to employ 750 workers at start of production with one shift, will build the Teana mid-size sedan and the X-TRAIL compact off-roader.

"This is Nissan's breakthrough in Russia," said Ghosn. "The opening of our plant in Saint Petersburg in the current conditions underlines our confidence in the high potential of the Russian economy. With the start of production at our new plant Nissan become an integral part of the local community."

Even though the financial crisis has taken its toll on the Russian car market as sales plunged more than 40% in the first four months of the year compared to 2008 when Russia briefly overtook Germany as Europe's largest car market, many analyst believe that Russia will be a key growth market for automakers when a recovery starts.

8:04 AM | 0 comments | Read More

Nissan X-Trail Clean Diesel Released in Japan

With the market launch of the new clean diesel X-Trail "20GT" on September 18, Nissan will become the second automaker to sell a diesel-powered vehicle in Japan. Up until now, the only brand offering a diesel car in Japan is Mercedes-Benz with its E320 CDI. The X-Trail is powered by the 2.0-liter M9R diesel equipped with a particulate filter and lean NOx trap catalysts delivering an output of 173 PS and maximum torque of 360Nm or 265-lbs/ft. Nissan says that the ‘20GT’ achieves a fuel-efficiency 35.7mpg US or 6.5 lt/100km representing an increase of about 30% in fuel economy over a 2.5-liter gasoline engine with the same output. -Continued

Moreover buyers in Japan will benefit from the lower price of diesel versus standard gasoline. The new clean diesel X-TRAIL 20GT is offered in Japan with standard ALL MODE 4x4i and 5-speed manual transmission with prices (including consumption tax) starting from 2,999,850 yen which is about $27,730 or €19,100.

8:50 AM | 0 comments | Read More

Nissan X-Trail FCV Sets Fastest Lap for Fuel-Cell Vehicle at the ‘Ring

Ever since Nissan first announced the lap time of the all-new GT-R at the Nurburgring circuit, carmakers are going berserk with ‘Ring times; Porsche did it with the new 911 Carrera; GM did it with the Corvette ZR1 and the CTS-V and so did Renault with the Megane R26.R. Now Nissan has made a comeback by announcing the lap time of the X-Trail FCV (Fuel Cell Vehicle) that managed to turn the 20.8 km-long course in 11:58 minutes. Since Nissan is the first automaker to record an FCV lap on the famous circuit, the X-Track FCV is of course the fastest vehicle of its type… -Continued

“I was very surprised at just how comfortable it is to drive a fuel cell car. You get in, turn the key and off you go, just like with a normal car,” said Frank Eickholt, member of the Nissan 24 Hours Nürburgring race team and Nordschleife aficionado. “Although some of the uphill sections were challenging, the speed was still very impressive. If the course hadn’t been so wet, I could have gotten more momentum out of the curves. Thirty to 40 seconds could have been shaved off for sure,” he added.

The X-Trail FCV that is powered by electricity produced on board the vehicle, in a hydrogen fuel cell stack, has an official top speed of 150 km/h (93 mph) and a range of 500 km (310 miles). Maximum output is 120PS while maximum torque is 280Nm.

8:20 AM | 0 comments | Read More