Articles by Ged Bulmer

Despite heading the company which lays claim to being the first to get an affordable electric vehicle to market, Nissan president and CEO Carlos Ghosn won’t be happy until the electric Leaf is a mass market success. Ghosn says that having tackled the technical hurdles of engineering and manufacturing an electric vehicle, the company’s efforts would now be focussed on making Leaf a mass market success.  “I don’t think the electric car is finished because now we have to demonstrate that it is a mass market, popular car. We think the car has the potential, this company has the potential. But we’ve sold 20,000 Nissan Leafs which makes it already the most sold electric car in the history of the range."But next year we’ll sell a lot more, we’ll probably double this number, or even above this. So the next challenge is making it a mass-marketing success, and making the electric car an obvious choice for consumers.”Ghosn said Nissan and its alliance partner Renault which is also working on a range of EVs want to move the electric car from the status of a niche curiosity and firmly into the mainstream. He pointed to the fact that the cars are still too expensive for emerging markets such as India and China and indicated efforts would be made to reduce the cost of the vehicles.  The electric Leaf arrives in Australia next July and Nissan Australia CEO Dan Thompson told Carsguide he expected growth to be “very organic”.“It will take many years for the momentum to take hold,” says Thompson, adding that Nissan has a big job ahead of it to educate Australians on the merits of electric vehicles. “Our biggest job will certainly be education. I think it will take us many, many years and we’ve seen even with Toyota’s presence with hybrids, (after) probably 10 years and three generations there still isn’t a great appreciation for what hybrid is. So it’s certainly a long-term investment.”However, Thompson believes electric vehicle uptake will be faster than it was or hybrids, partly because a variety of manufacturers are preparing to enter the space.“I think electric certainly will have a faster uptake over the next five to 10 year horizon than hybrid did 10-plus years ago. There’s a lot more brands that are staring to enter the space of alternative power trains and I think we’ll all play a role in educating consumers about hybrid versus electric versus range extenders.”Nissan’s long-term goal is for EVs to make up 10 per cent of its total vehicle sales and Thompson says that figure is realistic for Australia, but not from the outset.“In a more medium or longer term perspective we fully believe EVs should represent 10 percent of our sales mix by 2020. How fast we get up to that mass market level, a few things will determine that. One is we know that government support hasn’t been there, we don’t plan on that, so that will delay a bit of the uptake."But as Nissan gets more scale in the business both from a production perspective and sales perspective, that’ll bring the pressure out of the channel for pricing and we’ll be able to bring Leaf and future EV products into the mainstream from an affordability perspective. And that’s when I think we’ll hit the sweet spot, with second generation technology also improving whether it’s range or durability or just even the weight of the packaging. "

Not content at having staked its claim to being the world leader in clean-green EV technology, Nissan is now looking to bridge the gap between eco and exhilaration. The brand has long been known for its exciting sports and performance models, including the 200SX, GT-R and 370Z, but as it seeks to redefine itself in the rapidly revolving electric vehicle era it’s keen to also extend its performance heritage to EVs. The Nissan Esflow is the embodiment of sporty Nissan design, with its bulging front guards, dramatically sloped roofline, muscular haunches and classic coupe proportions. The dramatic shape references both the 370Z and the GT-R while claiming its own distinctive space. But it’s what’s under the bonnet, or rather what’s not under the bonnet that’s most remarkable about this powerful sports machine. The Esflow is a sports EV, with two high-performance electric motors independently controlling the power delivered to the left and right rear wheels. Its lithium-ion battery is mounted longitudinally to ensure optimal front to rear weight balance and it’s all encased in a composite body and an aluminium chassis to keep weight low. The Nissan-Leaf based rear drive two seater made its world debut at the Geneva motor show in March this year but its significance can now be only truly understood when seen alongside two other electric performance models at the Tokyo motor show, which opened its door’s to the world’s media yesterday (Wednesday). Alongside the Esflow on the Nissan stand at Tokyo are the Nissan Leaf Nismo RC, a zero-emission race car engineered using the Leaf’s power unit as a base, and the Leaf Nismo concept, a road-going sports version of the Leaf that points to a future performance version.Collectively the cars show a clear strategy by Nissan to apply its performance heritage to the EV arena, which is great news for anyone who thought the advent of EVs meant the end of performance car. There’s also a luxury EV strategy in place with Nissan’s luxury arm Infiniti confirming it’s developing an Infiniti-badged electric sedan.

Fans of Nissan’s legendary Nismo performance and motorsport division will soon be able to buy Nismo enhanced versions of Nissan’s mainstream models. At the opening day of the Tokyo motor show yesterday (Wednesday) Nissan announced that it was bringing its tuning division in-house, in much the same way as Mercedes-Benz did with its AMG performance division several years ago. Nismo - the name is derived from Nissan Motorsports International - has a towering reputation worldwide for its motorsport endeavours, and its enhanced road cars have long been favoured by performance car enthusiasts. But until now the company's road car activities have been restricted to halo performance cars like the Z series in a small number of markets. The announcement at Tokyo means Nismo will be free to apply its performance expertise across the Nissan road car range in a more integrated fashion.  The decision is expected to drive major sales growth of Nismo-branded performance parts and accessories as well as provide Nissan with premium sports variants of its mainstream models.    The Nissan Juke Concept unveiled at the show was chosen as an example of how a more integrated Nismo might work with Nissan. The Juke is a funky cross-over that’s based on the Nissan Micra platform. The Juke Concept appeared decked out in Nismo's signature colour scheme of pearl white with subtle red highlights, sports-tuned suspension, more power from the 1.6-litre direct injection turbo engine and a chunky body kit. "Nismo adds even more excitement and innovation to Nissan products. We now plan to inject that style and excitement into other models in the Nissan range," says Shoichi Miyatani, President of Nismo. Nissan President and CEO Carlos Ghosn added: "Nismo has carved out an enviable reputation in motor racing. "In fact, in 2011, Nismo cars and engines won in every category they competed in… the first time we have achieved this milestone. “The time is now right to let ordinary drivers experience what our racing drivers enjoy every time they head out onto the track. We aim to bring Nismo's passion and focus on driving excitement to mainstream models, and the Juke Nismo Concept shows what we can do," said Mr Ghosn. The announcement also included the news that Nismo would relocate to an all-new purpose-built global HQ in Yokohama in early 2013. The move will create a global centre of excellence for Nissan’s race and performance car development, as well as offering servicing, parts, a showroom and a museum. Nissan Australia CEO Dan Thompson confirmed that the company would look at adding Nismo products and models to its range but said there was nothing planned in the immediate future. “We’ll study it now that there’s a bit more emphasis around it globally,” says Thompson. “They are bringing it down to the mass market which makes it more interesting for us.”

The Tiida nameplate will be shelved in Australia from next year, and replaced with better known and better regarded Pulsar. Nissan Australia CEO Dan Thompson has been name-checking Pulsar for months when referring to the company’s next small car, due in late 2012, but it’s only now, during a visit to Japan for the Tokyo motor show, that he’s been able to officially confirm the change. The decision will be greeted with a chorus of “I told you so,” from journalists and other armchair experts who were scathing of the decision to drop the well regarded Pulsar name and replace it with the anonymous Tiida in 2006. Adoption of the Tiida nameplate for Nissan’s C-segment small car was a worldwide directive from Nissan’s Japanese HQ. Despite misgivings, Nissan Australia towed the line, only to discover later that other markets including the USA had refused to do likewise. “We went with the global direction on the last generation C-segment car which was Tiida. At the time Australia was launching that was the global position (but) it turned out afterwards there were several other markets that went with an alternative name including the US. By that time it was a bit too late for us to change course, we were already out marketing Tiida. So once the US went with their own name (Versa) it really opened up the chance for us with the next generation to move away from a global one name policy,” says Thompson. The Nissan CEO is bullish about the prospects for the reborn Pulsar and expects it to quickly establish itself as a top-three contender in the small car class. But it has an enormous amount of ground to make up. The Tiida's tragic 2970 sales year-to-date give it a 1.5 per cent share of the small car segment, compared to the 8.2 per cent share and 17,643 sales Pulsar enjoyed in 2005, it’s last full year on sale. The market leading Mazda3 has 34,624 sales so far this year for a 17.7 per cent share, so to become a serious three contender Pulsar will need to deliver in excess of 34,000 sales per annum.  One thing that may help is the news, also confirmed by Thompson this week, that the door may also be open for a return of the iconic SSS badge on Pulsar. The Pulsar SSS was a sporty four-cylinder hatch much-loved by enthusiasts in the days before the turbocharged Subaru WRX stole the limelight. Its return would add some much needed spice to the more affordable end of Nissan’s range, although Thomson cautioned it would not be in the line up at launch. “The policy for us on Pulsar across both body styles, hatch and sedan, is to have staggered launches for body style and power train,” he says.   Thompson indicated there would be an 18-month trickle-down of the various models in the Pulsar range, starting with the launch of the sedan in late 2012, followed three to six month later by the hatch.

Losing your car in the shopping centre car park could soon be a thing of the past, thanks to a tiny new Nissan concept car that the driver can summon via a smartphone. The Pivo 3 concept car was one of the stars of the Nissan stand at the 42nd Tokyo motor show which opened its doors to the world’s media today. The tiny, electric-powered city commuter is what Nissan envisions to be a "realistic" EV of the near future, with an ability to park itself, charge itself and come to the driver when called. Its ultra compact dimensions, four wheel steering and in-wheel electric motors mean the Pivo3 can turn in a radius of just 2 metres. Most roads have a width of 4 metres or more, so the Pivo3 can make a U-turn just about anywhere. For the city driver who gets lost up a narrow street or laneway, that means the car, which measures just under 3m in length and seats three in a 1+2 layout, can make a legal U-turn instead of having to reverse out. The days of trawling around looking for that elusive parking spot may also be over as the Pivo3 not only searches for a vacant spot but also parks itself, and then sets about automatically charging its battery to ensure you have enough juice to get home. Nissan calls this function Automated Valet Parking (AVP), and we believe them when they say it could “revolutionize the parking experience”. Of course you can’t try this at your local Coles or Woolies just yet, as for the Pivo3 is a concept and not yet in production, and it will require infrastructure such as specially designed parking spaces and wireless charging pads. And just in case the Pivo3 driver isn’t already feeling chuffed enough about a car that parks itself, comes when called and emits zero emissions, the little commuter car also does its bit for the community by putting excess electricity back into the grid when parked. The idea is that when EV's represent a larger percentage of all cars, they’ll be able to collectively serve as part of a city's infrastructure by helping balance electric power supply and demand. Nissan calls it a “fully-evolved vehicle that envisions life in tomorrow's cities”. The company’s general manager of Product Strategy and Product Planning, Francois Bancon,  describes it as “one of the answers for active urbanists living in mature markets.”

The sight of electric cars umbilically attached to their charging stations hasn’t yet become common-place but already the technology is about to be superseded. Nissan in Japan this week showed journalists a glimpse of the very near future in the form of a wireless charging station for its Leaf electric car. Present day electric vehicle charging technology requires the connection of a cable to the vehicle in order to recharge its battery via mains electricity. But Nissan has developed a wireless charging pad that recharges the battery simply by parking the vehicle on top of a ground transmission unit. Much like the charging system on electric toothbrushes the Nissan wireless charger works by electromagnetic induction, as opposed to conduction which is when you connect a power cord to a socket. Electricity is drawn from the recharging coil in a housing mounted on a garage floor or driveway and into contacts inside the vehicle. The idea is to make charging your EV something you never have to think about: you simply drive into the garage at night, taking care to park squarely over the charging pad, and then leave the car to charge itself. By the time you come back in the morning the car is fully charged and you’re on your way.  The system is tolerant of variations in alignment of up to 100mm and is 90 per cent as efficient in terms of power transmission as a cable system, meaning it will charge the Leaf electric car in about eight hours.   Experts say there’s no physical danger if a child or animal were to crawl into the 150mm gap between the car and the transmission unit as the unit transmits at a low three-to-six kilowatts. Researchers in Korea are reportedly already working on an electric bus powered by a continuous inductive connection with a cable buried in the road. The scenario of induction highways that allow EVs to make intercity journeys without stopping to recharge may no longer be the stuff of science fiction.

Nissan Australia CEO Dan Thompson said the premium brand – which arrives here next September – intends to overtake Lexus. “Our ambition in the longer term, you know 2020, clearly is to be well ahead of where Lexus is today,” he told Carsguide. Speaking in Japan ahead of the Tokyo international motor show, Thompson, who heads up both Nissan and Infiniti in Australia, says Infiniti will launch with four different vehicles in three series: the BMW 3-Series sized G Series, in coupe and convertible; the Mercedes E-Class sized M Series; and the FX which goes up against the likes of BMW’s X6 and Porsche’s Cayenne. Thompson pointed to movements in the luxury car segment in recent years, notably the emergence of Audi against established luxury rivals BMW and Mercedes-Benz as evidence of how much the category can change in just a few years. “I wouldn’t sit here and pretend to forecast where any of those four brands will be (by 2020) but I can assure you Infiniti will be in a strong position and certainly at least the number one non-European premium brand in Australia.”  The challenge will no doubt be heeded by Lexus which is in the process of attempting to reinvent its image in Australia with a range of more exciting products, including the forthcoming GS F Sport sedan, which also launches next year.Like Lexus Infiniti will offer a hybrid drive train on the BMW 5 Series-sized Infiniti M Series at launch. But unlike Lexus Infiniti has the option of introducing diesel models from its European range, something Thomson said was very much on the radar. “From a power train perspective we’ll have options across the range ranging from hybrid, diesel or petrol,” says Thompson. He dismisses suggestions that consumers may have bad memories of the Inifiniti brand, which was briefly sold here in the early 1990s via the single model Q45 luxury sedan.The attempt at the time by Japanese car makers including Toyota (Lexus), Nissan (Infiniti) and Mazda (Eunos) to challenge the German prestige brands was largely unsuccessful, with only Lexus surviving. Infiniti fared better in the USA, though, and its success there eventually led to the brand launching in Europe in 2008 and its planned Australian comeback. “For me it’s not really a question of re-establishing. I don’t believe the brand ever was established here. We launched a model for a period of time that was very short lived,” says Thompson. “Our biggest challenge in establishing the brand now is awareness in a very crowded space.There are 64-odd brands in the market today (and) there’s a fair few premium or quasi-premium brands fighting over a rather small slice of premium or luxury consumers. “We’ve been very particular about who we’ve selected as our partners, our dealers, to make sure that they can deliver that same Infiniti promise and experience.”    So particular in fact that there will be just three dealerships at launch - one each in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane - none of them established Nissan dealers. Thompson acknowledges the lack of dealership presence other than the east coast capitals is not ideal but is confident the brand will grow to encompass these markets.   “It’s not our intention to keep the brand within just the three launch cities. We’ll eventually go out to the likes of Perth and northern Queensland and Adelaide but it will take a bit of time and we’ll do it when we believe the brand is starting to establish itself and there is enough scale to warrant going to some of the second-tier markets.”

... begin making components for zero emission electric vehicles sold around the world. Manufacture of aluminium components for the Nissan Leaf electric vehicle begins at Nissan Australia’s Dandenong casting plant in mid-2012.A $21m investment in tooling and plant upgrades is already well underway, with some $3.3m provided by the Federal government’s now defunct Green Car Innovation Fund, and further support from the Victorian Government’s Business Assistance Grant. The contract involves the production of aluminium components used in Nissan’s Leaf electric car – already on sale in US, Japan and UK and destined for Australia in mid-2012. Components to be made in Melbourne include an inverter case, inverter water jacket and water jacket cover. The inverter is a key part of the Leaf’s electrical operating system and the Dandenong plant will eventually manufacture around 22,000 inverter castings per month for export to Japan, the UK and the USA. The Leaf emits zero tailpipe emissions thanks to its all-electric power train with a battery charged by connecting the car to mains electricity. Nissan Australia is currently participating in the Victorian government’s five year electric vehicle trial.The company has supplied a fleet of 16 pre-production Leafs for use by Victorian householders, who each will live with the cars for three months. Nissan’s Dandenong casting plant which employs around 160 Victorians is enjoying a period of growth following the announcement in October that it would also begin manufacturing a range of vehicle accessories including nudge bars, tow bars and sports bars.The accessory manufacturing business was won from Asia and secured 20 full time jobs. The casting plant was founded in 1982 but was forced to reinvent itself as a stand-alone supplier following Nissan’s withdrawal from local automotive manufacturing in 1991.

The Australian appearance of the new mid-size luxury sedan flagship is the latest in a series of global events and unveilings of what Toyota Motor Corporation  president and CEO Akio Toyoda has described as “The first car of the new generation Lexus.” The GS first appeared in concept form at the New York motor show in April, followed by the production car’s unveiling at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in August, and the unveiling of the hybrid version at the Frankfurt motor show in September. Lexus Australia chief executive Tony Cramb describes the all-new GS as “an absolute game changer” and conceded that until now the brand has lacked a serious rival in the category he declared the “core of any prestige brand”. It’s a category dominated here by the BMW 5 Series and Mercedes-Benz E-Class, which to the end of September had sold 1042 and 1122 cars respectively, versus just 69 sales of the current Lexus GS. Describing the category as “the core of any prestige brand”, Cramb made it clear that Lexus was banking on not just the GS F Sport but the entire GS range to reenergise the brand bother here and abroad. “This car is bigger than this car. It signals the regeneration of Lexus as a brand.  It’s the bold new face of Lexus and our rebirth as a franchise,” says Cramb. Referring to the benchmarking Lexus has done against its German prestige rivals, Cramb says the car’s performance and dynamics had been influenced by the LF-A supercar. Describing the GS as “easily the best car in the segment to drive”, he adds, “it’s a serious improvement. Much better than the outgoing car.” The GS F Sport, like the broader GS range is powered by either a 233kW 3.5-litre V6, or a hybridised version of the same engine dubbed that makes an impressive 252kW.   The hybrid version is being positioned by Lexus as a rival to both the economical diesel engines offered by the Germans, and a performance rival to their V8 offerings. The hybrid V6 is mated to a CVT transmission while the conventional V6 mates to a six-speed auto. With the car’s launch not expected until the end of the first or beginning of the second quarter next year, Lexus refused to discuss pricing or exact launch timing, but did concede that there would be a delay of up to two months between the launch of the petrol models and that of the hybrid versions. “Given our recent history you can assume we’re not going to be uncompetitive,” Cramb says.  Safety and technology features abound in the base car but the GS F Sport adds to this with features such as sports tuned suspension, all-wheel drive, larger front brakes, 19-inch alloy wheels, specific tuning for the transmissions and a raft of high-tech electronic handling aids.

Many carmakers exhibit a concept car at one show after another, unchanged. But Alfa has decided that after its appearance the Geneva Motor Show last April, the 4C Concept should have a change of wardrobe. Or at least the outer garment. At Geneva is was finished in lava red – a coat of Alfa Romeo Metallic Red over Metallic Black, that produced black shadows coupled with bold red highlights to accentuate the lines and planes of the bodywork. We love it. However Alfa has decided it will appear at Frankfurt in a silver finish the Italian manufacturer has dubbed ‘fluid metal’. Alfa says it has also refined the 4C’s technology, and has confirmed its weight at around an ultralight 850kg, the engine delivering more than 149kW, giving it a power to weight ratio less than 4kg/hp. It is reported to have a top speed of more 250km/h and to get to 100km/h in less thanr 5 seconds.