2006 Nissan Altima Se-r Sedan 4-door 3.5l on 2040-cars

Auto blog

NYC Taxi of Tomorrow ruled legal by appeals court

The streets of New York City might be filling up with a lot more Nissans in the next few years. A New York appeals court ruled that the city's mandate to replace old taxis with a fleet entirely made up of the Nissan NV200 Taxi of Tomorrow was legal. The decision overturned a previous ruling that decided The Big Apple couldn't force cabbies to all purchase the same vehicle.
Justice David B. Saxe wrote the court's opinion saying the Taxi of Tomorrow is a "legally appropriate response to the agency's statutory obligation to produce a 21st-century taxicab consistent with the broad interests and perspectives that the agency is charged with protecting," according to Bloomberg. The Greater New York Taxi Association, the plaintiff in the case, could still possibly attempt a second appeal.
Nissan originally won the 10-year contract estimated to be worth about $1 billion in 2011, beating out Ford and a Turkish company. Under the Taxi of Tomorrow plan, all New York cabbies would have to switch to the NV200 within three of five years of the van going into service, and it would replace the 16 vehicles previously authorized as taxis. In 2013, the mandate received multiple challenges though, including an attempted ban by cab drivers because the replacement wasn't a hybrid. In a separate case, state Supreme Court judge Schlomo Hagler decided that there was nothing in the city charter that forced a taxi driver to choose a specific vehicle. This was the case that was just overturned. In the meantime, the automaker has been selling the NV200 to New York cabbies at prices around $29,700.

Nissan had to re-edit this commercial two times to placate Aussie ad watchdog [w/poll]

Nissan recently aired a commercial in Australia for its Pulsar SSS hatchback - think of it as a five-door relative of our Sentra - in which a couple is seen hastily making their way to the hospital ahead of giving birth. But the ad you can watch now isn't the same ad that aired originally - in fact, Nissan had to re-edit the commercial twice before the Australian Advertising Standards Bureau (ASB) would accept it.
According to Go Auto, the original ad received complaints that it depicted unsafe and reckless driving, including speeding, following cars too closely and screeching to a halt upon arriving at the hospital. One of the complaints reportedly read: "The advertisement promotes driving behavior (rapid acceleration/deceleration/changes of direction) that is counter to sound medical advice regarding the carriage of heavily pregnant women in motor vehicles."
In the first edit, Nissan lowered the vehicle's engine noise, removed the woman's speech urging the man to drive faster ("Go, go, go!") and inserted a disclaimer that read "Filmed under controlled conditions," according to Go Auto, but all of that still wasn't enough to appease the ASB.

Nissan to bring Friend-Me concept to Shanghai

Nissan's got a big ol' show planned for its immersive space at the 2013 Shanghai Motor Show where visitors will see, touch, hear and smell the Nissan world. Sitting among 20 offerings that include the GT-R, Quest, Murano and Teana will be the Friend-Me concept (click image above to enlarge), the first show car created with "key input" by Chinese designers at Nissan Design China in Beijing. Its USP is "Four seats, one mind connectivity" that promotes information sharing among all the occupants.
The Friend-Me has the "vibrant, young" Chinese demographic in mind, our guess being Nissan thinks there's no reason to stop the digital sharing just because you're sitting in a car. We'll find out on April 20 exactly what's being exchanged in the Friend-Me. Until then, there's a press release below with a little more info.