Hasta La Gadget!

Toyota saw high Prius sales last year, moving over 230,000 vehicles, something that made it bump its sales forecast in 2013 to about 250,000. Such ambitions may have to be adjusted, however, says Toyota’s CEO in North America Jim Lentz. Prius sales in the first quarter of 2013 fell 8.4-percent largely due to a similar drop in gas prices, slightly exceeding 55,000 cars.

The current sales ambition of 250,000 represents a growth increase of 5.6-percent over last year, a target that isn’t being reflected in the year’s numbers so far. Reports Bloomberg, which interviewed Lentz last Friday, gas prices are just under 10-percent lower now than they were this time last year. Because one of the big selling points for hybrids is the fuel savings, sales ebb and flow with fuel costs.

Said the CEO during the interview: “It’ll be a challenge. We’ll continue to push Prius and Prius family, but if it ends up that demand is less than the sales forecast, that may be adjusted.” The Prius family, as he calls it, is composed a few different offerings, including the hatchback, wagon, plug-in, and subcompact. All is not bad news, however, with Toyota seeing current hybrid owners purchasing second hybrids.

As we reported on April 17, Toyota – alongside its Lexus luxury brand – have sold just shy of 2 million hybrids in the United States, with that number growing to 5 million when adding in global sales. Combined, both brands offer a dozen hybrid models in the US, including the Camry Hybrid. By 2015, the manufacturer wants to add 18 additional hybrid models on top of its current fleet.

[via Bloomberg]

Prius sales may fall short of 2013 goal, says Toyota is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Nissan and New York have conspired together to bring 6 new electric taxis to the city today. The Nissan Leaf is the model for these taxis and it’s repainted to look right for the job. Nissan and New York worked together to launch these new electric taxis today in celebration of Earth Day. These taxis will test out the waters of New York to see if electric cars are equipped to take on the taxi world.

Nissan states that the Nissan Leaf taxis have a range of around 100 miles, making it more than enough to handle the average daily taxi route of 70 miles. Nissan and New York wants to see whether or not these taxis are fit to take on the demanding life of New York citizens, who are in constant demand of a taxi at every moment. Just in case these Nissan Leaf taxis are unable to survive the day with only one charge, Nissan has set up quick-charging stations around New York so drivers can recharge their taxis if need be.

These 6 new electric taxis are all part of New York’s Mayor Bloomberg’s goal of having electric taxis make up at least 33% of New York’s taxi cars by the year 2020. If the Nissan Leaf performs well as a taxi, then Bloomberg’s plans are well on their way to becoming a reality. David Yassky, the Taxi and Limousine Commissioner, stated that Nissan is “working on that timeline”, with both the Nissan Leaf and an electric version of Nissan’s NV 200.

The Nissan NV 200 is New York’s “Taxi of Tomorrow”, and is set to become the official taxi of New York. It was approved by the Taxi and Limousine Commission and it beat out several rivals for the position. While not electric, it will be much more fuel friendly than the entirety of the taxis in New York City. Nissan plans on launching the NV 200 by October this year, starting the 10-year agreement it has with New York to be the city’s official taxi provider.

[via The Wall Street Journal]

Six electric taxis hit the streets of New York is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Nissan has issued a recall for around 20,000 of its Pathfinder and Infiniti JX vehicles due to faulty breaks. The front brakes of the vehicles can potentially fail while driving, reducing the braking power of the vehicles. It’s recalling the 2013 models of the Pathfinder and Infinite JX vehicles in order to repair the problems. Thankfully, Nissan says that there have been no reports of crashes or injuries yet.

Nissan received a field report about a front brake torque member failure on its 2013 Pathfinder. After a detailed analysis of the front brake torque member, Nissan discovered,

“The casting was out of specification due to a ‘cold shut’ condition which occured during the supplier’s manufacturing process. A small amount of molten iron flowed into an adjacent mold prematurely, and did not fuse properly with the newly introduced metal due to temperature loss”

Nissan determined that the defect exists in a number of its vehicles, and issued a recall so that it can resolve the issue. Owners of the defective vehicles are expected to receive their recall notifications in early May, and will then be asked to bring in their vehicle to their nearest Nissan dealer so that it can be inspected. The dealers will inspect the manufacturing date of the torque member, and if it falls between December 3rd, 2012 to January 29th, 2013 (the period when the defective part was manufactured), the vehicle’s front brake torque members will need to be replaced (at no added cost to the vehicle’s owner).

There are approximately 14,168 Nissan Pathfinders and 5,090 Infiniti JX vehicles that potentially have the faulty brakes. This isn’t the first recall that Nissan issued this month. On April 11th, Nissan, Honda, and Toyota recalled over 3 million vehicles due to a potential issue involving their airbags. The airbags could potentially deploy improperly, which could lead to serious injury, or worse, death.

[via NHTSA]

Nissan recalls around 20,000 SUVs due to faulty brakes is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Chrysler‘s CEO Sergio Marchionne stated yesterday in a speech that the manufacturer will lose approximately $10,000 for every Fiat 500 electric vehicle it sells, something he used to demonstrate that electric motors are not – at least presently – the solution to government-mandated fuel regulations. He discussed his concerns regarding present regulation efforts and the reality of EVs.

As we reported over the weekend, Chrysler will be releasing the Fiat 500e vehicle in California only for a price of $32,500. Because it is an electric vehicle, consumers will be able to take advantage of a variety of credits, rebates, and incentives to drop that price lower, making it more attractive. Likewise, Chrysler receives some subsidies that lower its overall financial burden, yet even after them, the manufacturer faces losing thousands on every vehicle that sells.

The CEO says that governments should be looking towards regulations that don’t side with any particular type of technology, such as electric vehicles. He then went on to discuss the inevitable consolidation of manufacturers in the auto industry, with car makers having to sell in excess of 6 million cars every year and at least a million units per platform due to the cost of developing them.

Said Marchionne: “A number of governments around the world including the U.S. have provided incentives for consumers to purchase plug-in electric vehicles and have provided direct incentives to manufacturers. My fear is that regulators are rushing precipitously into embracing electric vehicles as the only technological solution.”

[via Detroit Free Press]

Chrysler will take substantial loss on every Fiat 500e sold, says CEO is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

It’s no secret that late Apple CEO Steve Jobs was keen on bringing the company’s technology to the automotive world. In fact, according to longtime Apple board member Mickey Drexler, “Steve’s dream before he died was to design an iCar.” Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, Phil Shiller, echoed those sentiments during the company’s copyright infringement trial against Samsung, saying there had been discussion of Apple making a vehicle. More »