nissan

Customers registered to buy a Nissan Leaf electric car will take delivery before summer is over, the carmaker said yesterday.

Nissan delivered fewer than 20 Leaf cars in the first month of sales in December and another 89 in January. The company has had to assuage customers who thought they would be riding in an electric car by now.

Nissan's U.S. sales chief Brian Carolin said yesterday that increased production in Japan will clear the bottleneck.

"We're now in the process of ramping up. Production is going to be peaking up in March and April, so … Read more

No range anxiety here. Bill Markevitch just took delivery of the 2011 Nissan Leaf in Hawaii. A development executive for Hawaii Pacific Health in Honolulu, Markevitch plans to use photovoltaic panels installed on his home to have the sun power his car.

The Leaf has already launched in California, Arizona, Oregon, Washington, Tennessee, and Texas.

"We are excited about Nissan bringing the first Nissan Leaf electric vehicle to Hawaii," said Estrella Seese, acting energy program administrator of the State of Hawaii Energy Office. "The introduction of the Nissan Leaf will support our state's effort to move … Read more

Nissan Motor, Japan's second-biggest automaker, said today that Leaf production will reach full capacity by March at its factory south of Tokyo.

The company has gradually ramped up output of the Leaf, its first mass-marketed zero-emission car, since it started building them in late October, completing about 3,000 units to date.

By March, the pace of production will rise to full capacity of about 4,000 Leafs a month at the Oppama factory, putting Nissan on track to hit a target of producing a total 10,000 units by the end of March, a Nissan official said.

"… Read more

We got a peek into the future of dashboard technology with Visteon at CES 2011 and again with Denso at the 2011 Detroit auto show. But you don't have to check out concepts to see the dashboard of the future, because it's here today.

From MyFord Touch to the Nissan Leaf's video game-inspired instrument cluster, more and more vehicles are digitizing and reinventing the dashboards of today before our very eyes. We've rounded up a collection of the coolest dashboards that we've come across for your perusal. Enjoy!

It looks like automakers will be required by law to add audible alerts to silent-running electric vehicles to keep sight-impaired pedestrians safe.

President Barack Obama this week signed into law the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act (S. 841), which will protect the blind and other pedestrians from injury as a result of silent-vehicle technology, said the National Federation of the Blind.

The new bill, sponsored by Senator John Kerry, and 29 other co-sponsors, allows the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) begin crafting standards for an alert sound.

"The National Federation of the Blind is pleased that this critical legislation … Read more

CNET Tech Car of the Year for 2010

2011 Nissan Leaf

Earlier this month we invited you to vote for the 2010 Tech Car of the Year from our five nominees. This year proved an upset, though, as our staff judges came down on the side of the 2011 Nissan Leaf, these votes overruling the general support for the Lincoln MKZ Hybrid and the Audi A8. The MKZ Hybrid is an excellent car, although its very close relative, the Ford Fusion Hybrid, won last year's award. Audi came out this year with a phenomenal flagship sedan in the new … Read more

General Motors on Wednesday delivered its first consumer-ready Chevy Volt to Jeffrey Kaffee of Parsippany, N.J.

The Volt is GM's much-anticipated hybrid electric car that can run on electricity alone or a combination of electricity and gas.

As part of the deal, Kaffee, a retired airline pilot, traded in his old Toyota Prius at the Gearhart Chevrolet Dealership in Denville, N.J., to get the 2011 Chevy Volt.

GM said Kaffee is just one of 360 customers who will receive Chevy Volts this week. In addition to the New York metropolitan area, Volts straight from the company's … Read more

Driving the real Nissan Leaf in the real world. Backup cameras coming to every car in the U.S.? Nice revamp for mobile Google Maps. And we're going to miss the Chevy Aveo. (Just kidding.)

• Feds consider requiring rear view cameras

• Google Maps Mobile getting a nice overhaul

• Slow Down app for iphone keeps you from speeding unless you hate your own music

• Nissan Leaf, Chevy Volt make 2010 list of 10 Best Engines

• CNET drives the Nissan Leaf… Read more

As 2010 rolls to a close, we look back at the cars we've reviewed over the last year to see which one should earn our Tech Car of the Year Award. From our survey of the cars we've reviewed, we're pleased to see that the adoption of cabin tech by automakers is becoming more prevalent and ever-more sophisticated, with features such as hard-drive-based navigation with traffic reporting becoming common.

Among the cars we've seen, we picked out five that show the most innovative technology. These cars use technology to enhance the cabin and driving experience, and … Read more