Chrysler and Nissan call it quits on car, truck sharing

NASHVILLE — Chrysler Group, whose new Italian partner, Fiat S.p.A., is preparing to supply Chrysler dealers with European-designed small cars, today scrapped plans to share vehicles with Nissan Motor Co.

The decision means:

• Nissan will not supply Chrysler dealers with a small car for global markets starting next year.

• Nissan will not provide Chrysler with a Nissan Versa-based sedan to sell in South America.

• Chrysler will not build the next-generation full-sized Nissan Titan pickup starting in the 2012 model year.

“It was decided it was in the best interests of both companies to end the projects,” Chrysler and Nissan said in a joint statement.

That leaves Nissan with a bigger problem than any facing Chrysler.

Nissan will continue producing Titans at its plant in Canton, Miss., through the 2011 model year. Beyond that, Nissan now must scramble to either find a different manufacturing partner to produce the next Titan or create the truck’s next generation on an abbreviated schedule.

“We’re exploring our options,” Nissan North America spokesman Fred Standish said.

The announcement comes on the heels of press speculation that Chrysler‘s new 20 percent owner, Fiat, soon will begin putting a version of its compact Fiat 500 into production in North America for Chrysler Group dealers. That would bolster Chrysler’s lineup in a market that has shifted from large vehicles, where Chrysler has excelled in the past, to more fuel-efficient small cars, where the automaker has been weak.

Chrysler‘s altered status as a Fiat partner is made clear by the scope of today’s project cancellation.
Chrysler and Nissan call it quits on car, truck sharing

In February, as Chrysler teetered toward bankruptcy and an uncertain future, Nissan and Chrysler said they would temporarily halt work on the global small car and Titan projects. But they said they would press ahead on the deal to sell a Chrysler-badged Versa in South America, despite the corporate uncertainties.

Today’s news signals Chrysler is now taking a larger world view of its product plans under Fiat leadership.

Nissan was developing the global car to be built in Japan to Chrysler specifications, Nissan officials said earlier this year. Chrysler was planning to build the Titan on its Ram pickup assembly line in Saltillo, Mexico, using interior and exterior design plans provided by Nissan.

PRESS RELEASE: The following is a joint statement from Nissan and Chrysler

Nissan and Chrysler today announced a mutual agreement to end three OEM vehicle-supply projects announced last year.

For the past several months, teams from both companies have been studying the viability of the projects in light of significant changes in business conditions since the projects were announced in January and April of 2008.

Today, it was decided it was in the best interests of both companies to end the projects.

The projects had involved:

1. Nissan providing to Chrysler a compact sedan for the South American market beginning this year.

2. Nissan providing to Chrysler a small vehicle for global markets beginning in 2010.

3. Chrysler providing to Nissan a full-size pickup truck starting in 2011.

A separate agreement involving the supply of transmissions from Nissan affiliate JATCO to Chrysler remains unchanged. That agreement has been in effect since 2004.
Chrysler and Nissan call it quits on car, truck sharing

Nissan says Leaf EV beats Volt mileage with 367 mpg

TOKYO — The green car mileage race is now under way, and Nissan Motor Co. isn’t impressed by the Chevrolet Volt’s 230-mpg claim.
The Japanese automaker says its new Leaf electric vehicle gets 367 mpg, or about 60 percent better fuel efficiency.

“Nissan Leaf = 367 mpg, no tailpipe, and no gas required,” Nissan wrote on its NissanEVs Twitter page after General Motors Co. announced Tuesday that the Volt would score 230 mpg.

“Oh yeah, and it’ll be affordable too,” Nissan added, in a dig at the Volt’s estimated $40,000 sticker price. Nissan is promising that the five-passenger Leaf, unveiled Aug. 2, will be priced to compete with $25,000-$33,000 mass-market cars in the United States.

Still unclear is how the Japanese automaker derived its lofty mileage rating.

GM CEO Fritz Henderson said Aug. 11 that the EPA is developing a rating methodology for plug-in hybrids such as the Volt. Under those tentative rules, the Volt will be the first mass-produced car with a triple-digit fuel economy rating, he said.
Nissan says Leaf EV beats Volt mileage with 367 mpg
The Volt is a gasoline-electric hybrid that runs up to 40 miles on electric power before the gasoline engine must be started to recharge the battery while it operates. The Leaf, by contrast, is powered solely by a battery that has a range of 100 miles before it needs to be recharged.

Electric vehicle mileage is typically measured in kilowatt-hours per 100 miles. But that metric is unfamiliar to most drivers, so there are ways of deriving a miles per gallon equivalent.

Nissan officials in Japan could not immediately be reached for comment.

But an article posted July 6 on the Society of Automotive Engineers’ Web site tackled the problem of calculating fuel economy numbers for electric vehicles.

Its author, Paul Weissler, estimated that the Leaf would get 367 mpg based on the Department of Energy’s method of deriving petroleum-equivalent fuel economy for electric vehicles.

In a statement responding to GM’s claims for the Volt, the EPA said Tuesday it has not yet tested a Volt and “therefore cannot confirm the fuel economy values claimed by GM.”

But the agency said it “does applaud GM’s commitment to designing and building the car of the future — an American-made car that will save families money, significantly reduce our dependence on foreign oil and create good-paying American jobs.”

Neil Roland contributed to this report.
Nissan says Leaf EV beats Volt mileage with 367 mpg