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LOS ANGELES--Nissan Motor will keep the price of its upcoming battery-powered Leaf competitive with similar-size cars and expects to make money on the vehicle despite the cost of its launch, said Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn on Friday.

The five-passenger hatchback, which is being designed to have an all-electric range of 100 miles, would cost only 1 percent to 2 percent more than traditional combustion engine vehicles in its class, he said.

"On the pricing of the vehicle it is too early to say, but there will be no surprise," Ghosn said. "We know it will be the … Read more

Over the years, we've seen a variety of approaches intended to meld multiple small servers into a single larger system. 3Leaf Systems is the latest. On November 3, it introduced a Dynamic Data Center Server (DDC-Server) for AMD Opteron processors. The DDC-Server combines a custom DDC-ASIC chip with software to create a symmetric multiprocessing server with 32 6-core AMD "Istanbul" processors and 1 terabyte of memory.

The system, together with the InfiniBand switch required to interconnect the  server components, 8TB of storage, and 3Leaf's software, is priced at $250,000. A smaller $99,000 version … Read more

TOKYO -- Infiniti will get an electric vehicle as early as 2012, and Nissan Motor Co. also will create an electric commercial van to sell to governments and fleet customers.

Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn said the electric Infiniti will be "a compact luxury car--a stylish, high-performance four-seater with zero emissions."

He did not say whether the electric Infiniti would use a unique platform or one derived from the Nissan Leaf family car. For several years, Nissan has been engineering separate platforms to keep the Nissan and Infiniti brands distinct.

Nissan is ramping up to produce its electric five-passenger … Read more

With the release of "2012," the iPhone app tied to the forthcoming Sony Pictures film of the same name, a group of developers may have kicked off the future of games on the hit smartphone.

While the game itself is fairly simple and lasts just minutes, it incorporates features that may never have been tried before, and as such, could be among the small number of titles that are showcasing what will soon be considered par for the course.

In the minds of many industry observers, thanks to its integration of a functional operating system, an accelerometer, GPS … Read more

If you like what you've been hearing about Nissan's Leaf electric car, but think it looks too much like a futuristic Versa 1.6 for your tastes, then maybe Nissan's other zero-emissions concept will pique your interest.

The Nissan Land Glider concept is a tiny electric vehicle that features a computer controlled steering system that leans the car into the turns. The pilot driver is seated centrally in the cabin with space for a single passenger directly behind in the narrow cabin. At least, it looks like that's where the passenger would sit. Although the photos clearly show a driver's four-point harness, none of the pictures show a rear seat belt.

The steering wheel has been replaced with what looks like a flight yoke. The rear view mirrors have been replaced by cameras and monitors. The dashboard definitely looks like it belongs on a vehicle of the future.

Details about the drive train are scarce, but we do know that it will be motivated by all-electric power. Expect the battery technology to be similar to that of the Leaf, albeit on a smaller scale. With its narrow profile and potentially lighter weight, we presume that the Land Glider will get by with less horsepower than the Leaf requires.

The Land Glider will be displayed at the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show, alongside the Leaf production concept. Stay tuned for more details as they emerge. In the meantime, check out the embedded video of the Land Glider in action after the jump.… Read more

Toyota recalls 3.8 million cars, automakers gear up for the Tokyo Motor Show, Garmin sets a date and price for the Nuvifone, and we go for a ride in Lincoln's smallest luxury car.

• Toyota recalls vehicles over loose floor mats

• Skydeck concept: Honda's hybrid van of the future

• Mazda to show concept, fuel efficient engines in Tokyo

• Subaru's Tokyo concept surfs trends

• Reserve Nissan's Leaf EV starting Spring 2010

• Garmin Nuvifone G60 launching with AT&T on October 4… Read more

Nissan has announced that it will begin taking reservations for its upcoming Nissan Leaf electric vehicle starting in the Spring of 2010. The automaker predicts that it will have about 20,000 preorders lined up before production of the Leaf begins late next year.

According to Nissan's press release:

Nissan will invite people to "opt-in" and receive updates and information about Leaf through a reservation system that will tell them when the electric car is available--either for test drives or to take home. Participants will receive the latest news about the company's zero-emission activities as well … Read more

According to a recent Bloomberg article, the Nissan Leaf all-electric vehicle will be equipped with a noise generator that will add a futuristic sound to the silent vehicle at low speeds.

Nissan Motor engineer Toshiyuki Tabata was charged with recreating the sound of a gasoline engine to increase safety for blind pedestrians and to address the potential for U.S. and Japanese mandates for adding artificial sounds to silent EVs.

"We fought for so long to get rid of that noisy engine sound," said Tabata, Nissan's noise and vibration expert. With electric cars, "we took a … Read more

Chevy Volt gets 230 miles per gallon (for a day) while Nissan says we can play that game, too. BMW gets hybrid religion (again), and we take you for a ride in an Audi Q5 and point out what we love and what we wish we could.

• We take you for a ride in a Chevy Volt test mule

• CNET Review and video of the Audi Q5

• BMW has a hybrid x6 and 7 Series on the way

• Sneak peek of the new Jaguar XJ

• GM still believes in hydrogen fuel cells… Read more