Mazda CEO: Ford and Mazda relationship remains unchanged

Ford still loves Mazda - or the other way around. Jim O’Sullivan, president and CEO of Mazda’s North America operations, said that the Japanese automakers relationship with Ford has remained unchanged and is as strong as ever.

Ford reduced its ownership in Mazda from 33.4 percent to 13.4 percent last year - letting go of its controlling interest in Mazda. Nonetheless, O’Sullivan said that both automakers are pursuing joint ventures that are 50/50.

“The other piece that remains unchanged is that we are working very closely with them on technology, hybrids – all of the things that are happening related to product development,” O’Sullivan told reporters. He said that four of Ford’s top executives were once Mazda employees.

The only change O’Sullivan pointed out was that he and a handful of other Mazda executives were still on Ford’s payroll until Jan.

Source: Detroit Free Press

New Renault-Nissan V6 diesel to power wide range of cars, SUVs

Diesel engine sales have stagnated in the U.S. because of lingering perceptions of the clattering, foul-smelling contraptions of the 1970s and earlier. Many carmakers have been reluctant to even offer them in America because of the cost of emissions certification and small profit margins, but Renault-Nissan have just announced their first-ever V6 diesel engine and it will be coming to the U.S. in the Maxima sedan. Many other Renault-Nissan vehicles will also get the powerplant, which is rated at 235hp (175kW) from its 3.0L displacement.

2009 Infiniti G37 Coupe

Nissan Qashqai+2 1.5dCi (2009) CAR review

Live for the unexpected. That’s Nissan’s slogan for the Qashqai. And what you might not expect is a 1.5-litre diesel engine where the 2.0-litre normally lives. This is a big car – the +2 is 211mm longer than the standard Qashqai and weighs 1604kg – so the newly introduced small engine might not be your first choice. Question is, should you choose it at all?

A tiny engine. Must make this a cheap car then?

You’ll save yourself £1230 by choosing this instead of the 2.0-litre but £18,495 isn’t exactly cheap. The performance figures are less impressive than the 148bhp 2.0-litre’s too but they feel a lot further apart even than a 12mph top speed and 2.4sec 0-62mph sprint time deficit suggest.

The 2.0-litre diesel feels revvy and responsive, with plenty of acceleration on tap. The 1.5 feels like you’d expect it to feel in such a big car: slothful. You can row it along on the modicum of torque but you’ll soon give up wringing its neck. From a performance point of view, this is not a diesel for enthusiastic drivers and it emits a tediously tinkly soundtrack too. Cruising is peaceful enough though, once you’ve got up to speed. Eventually.

Doesn’t bode well for a full load

Actually, the Qashqai feels equally slow no matter how many people you pack it with. So don’t worry about that. Worry instead about the quality of the accommodation for your rear-most passengers.

Actually, Nissan says the third row is intended only for those less than 1.6m tall. And they really are just occasional seats for kids. They’re nicely trimmed, have proper belts and head restraints plus some padded trim either side of them on the inner panelling, but don’t take them seriously. It’s a real effort to get back there – you basically fold the middle row and clamber over – and it leaves you with virtually no boot space. Once there, you find room only for headless bicrural amputees, so don’t bother. I did it for you.

With the third row folded away – a simple task, and just as easy to flip them back up – you get a long, if shallow, boot and you can vary the balance between that and second-row legroom by sliding those seats back and forth.