FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. – Sebastian Vettel takes his new job as director of performance for Infiniti seriously. That’s why one day he is crushing the competition, taking first place in the Formula One Canadian Grand Prix, and the next he’s meeting with engineers in Farmington Hills, Michigan to discuss development of Infiniti vehicles for the American markets.

“You know the title says already ‘Director of Performance’ and it’s clear about performance. The bit that I enjoy most is obviously the practical part of it, basically testing cars, sitting in the car, getting an idea of the handling, trying to give valuable feedback,” said Vettel.

Vettel is evaluating some of the company’s advanced technology labs, so he can give advice about vehicle tuning and engineering. And he brought along his own custom-made steering wheel and race seat so Infiniti’s human engineering team can perfect cockpit layout and seat comfort.

“He looked at steering wheels, seats and sat in the Q50 and talked about the steering wheel controls and performance,” said NTCNA director Mark Snyder. “And two key items, one was the paddle shifters not moving with the steering wheel, so he thinks they should be connected to the wheel. And also the way they form the seat for Formula One drivers could be a way for us to evaluate how to make a seat more comfortable.”

Vettel became Infiniti’s Director of Performance in April, but his relationship with the premium automotive brand formally started in 2011.

“I don’t take myself too seriously in this because obviously I am just trying to give a little bit of help, a little bit of input as does the team, a different perspective, a bit of inspiration to people. We also deal with cars, but it’s a very different field, so I think it’s quite interesting for people inside here, people inside the brand of Infiniti to sometimes look at things from a different perspective,” said Vettel.

NEW YORK – The once crime ridden area called Hell’s Kitchen in New York City is now considered to be an ideal location for many car companies.

“11th Avenue is the row where every manufacturer is represented.  As expensive as it is, if you are not on 11th Avenue on the West side of Manhattan, you’re just not representing the brand correctly,” said Nissan of Manhattan co-owner John Iacono.

John Iacono and his family just opened a new Nissan dealership, and a new Infiniti dealership, on the street.  The site takes up an entire city block in Manhattan, and Iacono says this new facility is his ideal.

“It’s not one size fits all, and I think Nissan and Infiniti know that, and they’re giving us the tools we need to compete in this marketplace,” said Iacono.

Both Nissan and Infiniti have separate entrances to their facilities, and all customer touch points in sales and service are dedicated and exclusive to each brand.  Each brand has its own service advisors and specialized technicians under the same roof, making the most of this valuable real estate. Nissan Motor Company President and CEO Carlos Ghosn toured the facility centered in the city.

“We need to be where customers want to shop.  And it’s changing, so we have to adapt and we have to change. Particularly we have to adapt not only at the location but we have to adapt what is being done inside the location,” said Ghosn.

Employees here are shifting from sales people to something more similar to a product advisor. That’s largely in response to the wealth of information now available to customers online.

“It’s not only about the location.  It’s also about what’s being offered inside the location, what kind of support is being given to people to help them make the decision of buying the car,” said Ghosn.

Ghosn says facilities like these will help bring the United States sales number back up to full potential.  The U.S. is Nissan Motor Company’s second largest market.

“I would say the U.S. is still one of the brilliant spots of growth on the overall market, so we need to make sure that Nissan will be contributing to it,” said Ghosn.

June 12 – New York – The Taxi of Tomorrow vision is about to be realized in just a few months in New York. Later this fall, the all-new and completely redesigned taxis are due on the city’s streets.

This comes just two years after global car maker Nissan won a bid to redesign and supply the New York City fleet of cabs. Since then the company has been singularly focused on perfecting the vehicle for passengers, drivers, and owners.

Recently the final official milestone meetings for key stakeholders took place in Manhattan. It was a chance for the Taxi & Limousine Commission, drivers and inspectors to react to the Taxi of Tomorrow prototype before production starts.

This meeting, like the many before it, was designed to further refine the vehicle before it is put into service for the more than 600,000 people who hail a cab in NYC each year.

“Seeing the knobs and buttons put in place, seeing the screen where it is, seeing the whole thing come to life is really exciting. And that was just sitting in the back seat. When we started rolling, it really came to life,” said Andrew Salkin, deputy commissioner operations, NYC Department of Finance.

Nissan says that from powertrain, to chassis, to interior fit and finish, the Taxi of Tomorrow demonstrates the type of innovative spirit that goes into all Nissan vehicles, on the city streets of New York and around the world.

June 6 – Tokyo – Nissan displayed the new DAYZ minicar on Thursday at a press conference celebrating its sales launch.

Nissan COO Toshiyuki Shiga

The DAYZ is the first mini-car (referred to as kei cars in Japan) for which Nissan has been involved from the very start – from planning to design and development – and it is equipped with a top class fuel-efficient engine, built specifically for the vehicle.

The car will list from about 1.06 million yen, or  about US$10,600.

Regional Product Manager Masanobu Yasui noted the features of the minicar and the backstory to its conception.

“Nissan’s design team has for the first time, fully challenged the restricted dimensions of the kei cars. Through their relentless effort and research, they created a deep character line without sacrificing the cabin space, which can’t be seen in other kei models,” said Yasui.

The new DAYZ

“In terms of technology, we have featured an around-view monitor for the first time in a kei car, as well as air-conditioning with touch-panel control. These features help to achieve high utility and quality.”

“We have achieved fuel-economy of 29.2 kilometers per liter, which is best-in-class. To achieve this, we have developed an ‘Idling Stop’ system that stops the engine just before the car comes to a full stop. Also, we have coated the pistons to reduce engine friction, using the latest fuel-efficient CVT. This accumulation of small but important technologies has contributed to the great fuel-economy.”

Today, kei cars constitute more than one-third of total demand in Japan, and competition is high among Japanese carmakers to get the biggest slice of the pie.

Nissan Chief Operating Officer Toshiyuki Shiga said it is important for Nissan to get into the kei car business with its own models.

Inside the DAYZ

“We have put in Nissan’s various knowhow and technologies, including design, performance and fuel-economy into this car, so that we can make our customers satisfied. We are very emotional about this car. I’m very excited today that this car will go on sale,” told Shiga.

“Registered vehicles, models as Note, Serena and Sylphy, are selling well, however, the kei cars in our stable until now are causing us to lose market share. By introducing this Nissan DAYZ, I would like to energize our sales and regain our market share.”

The automaker has already announced that a second series model is on the way, to be released early next year, meaning more exciting DAYZ ahead.

Full archive of the press conference

Video streaming by Ustream

JACKSON, Miss. – Ten years ago, Nissan Motor Company brought auto manufacturing to Canton, Miss., creating jobs and opportunities for thousands of residents from the area’s surrounding communities.

The company and its employees celebrated at a free festival for the community at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Jackson on Saturday. Grammy-award winning band Kool & the Gang headlined the event that was punctuated with a fireworks display.

“Our employees are the heart and soul of our operation in Canton,” said Camille Young, Nissan’s community relations and communications manager for Canton. “We are also deeply grateful to the broader community that has embraced and supported us during our first decade in Mississippi, and we wanted to take this opportunity to celebrate with those who contribute to our success – our employees, their family members, our local suppliers, area businesses and our community partners.”

Since 2003, Nissan Canton has produced more than 2 million vehicles and made more than $2 billion in investments since launching operations. As the largest private sector employer in the region, the facility has an annual payroll of more than $200 million and employs a diverse workforce of more than 5,000 people from throughout the state. Nissan’s presence has also attracted numerous suppliers and manufacturers to the region, creating an opportunity for even more jobs.

May 23 – Yokohama – Nissan is to sponsor Keiko Ihara, the only Japanese woman to race in the World Endurance Championship. She competes in the LMP2 class and her Gulf Racing car features a Lola chassis and a Nissan engine.

The partnership agreement also means she will work with the automaker to promote the development of the infrastructure for electric cars and diversity.

Keiko Ihara’s ground-breaking career on the track began by chance when while working as a model she was sent to a Formula One meeting to be a race queen.

Even though she did not have a driver’s licence, she was bitten by the racing bug. Determination carried her through, as she first learned to drive on the road, then progressed to F3 and the WEC.

This year she is due to compete at Le Mans 24 Hours.

May 20 – Okayama, Japan – It’s not everyday Japanese automakers team up to make cars, but Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors have done just that, taking on the domestic industry’s top category by volume: kei cars.

The new minicar rolled off the line at Mitsubishi’s Mizushima Plant on Monday, restoring a night shift and supporting hundreds of jobs.

The new generation of kei cars will be launched next month, badged for each company, under the model names of Nissan DAYZ and DAYZ Highway STAR, as well as the Mitsubishi eK Wagon and eK Custom.

These are the first kei car models under the NMKV joint venture started in December 2010 by Nissan and Mitsubishi. Media joined executives and 350 staff for the ceremony.

Nissan Chief Operating Officer Toshiyuki Shiga said the new DAYZ was big for Nissan.

“It’s a very unique product for the Japanese market,” said Shiga. “The dimensions, the length, the width are completely regulated, however, the roominess is good. I am really expecting that we will continuously sell our registered car products, while we are increasing our sales for the kei car thanks to this project.”

Nissan COO Toshiyuki Shiga and Mitsubishi President Osamu Masuko tour the Mizushima plant

Japan’s kei car category offers affordability and tax breaks with each small model, and the minicar continues to be a growing category.

Some 18.5 million were on Japanese roads at the beginning of 2012.

Honda, Suzuki and Toyota subsidiary Daihatsu offer strong competition, but the new models stand out with best-in-class fuel economy, first in kei car touch-screen automatic air-conditioning, and high-quality interiors.

Mitsubishi President Osamu Masuko said partnership with Nissan was a unique and important advantage for the carmaker.

“We are two companies. We have different histories. And we expect that our cultures of making cars are different,” said Masuko. “But we are working together from planning and development of this project, and I suspect that there were a lot of walls and obstructions. But I think that we have overcome these issues rather well and built a relationship based on trust. I think this is the result of the efforts of the people both companies are providing to NMKV.”

The next “super height” mini-wagon will reach the market in early 2014, with the “minis” expected to have an outsized impact on Japan sales.

May 17 – Yokohama – Nissan is the largest automaker in Mexico with a market share of 25.5%, and it’s an increasingly important manufacturer, both for the domestic market and export.

Visiting the Global Media Center on a recent Japan visit was Jose Luis Valls, President and Managing Director of Nissan Mexicana, and Jose Roman, Managing Director of Nissan in Latin America and in the Caribbean.

Q: What is the secret of Nissan in Mexico? Why is Nissan quite so popular there?

Jose Luis Valls:

Jose Luis Valls being given the President's Award by CEO Carlos Ghosn

I would say there are many things, a long story since we first landed there. The first manufacturing site outside Japan was in Cuernavaca in Mexico. We have a very strong team. They are very committed and very passionate about being leaders in the market. We can summarize one thing, a No. 1 Mindset. We work hard every day. We work hard to be the best.

When we are not the best, we plan. We have a process, discipline and target what we need to do to be the best in every single area of the business. It could be sales, it could be manufacturing, it could be the export process. The whole team is very focused on that mindset. So, Numero Uno is what we say there. It is very important for the team.

Q: Jose Roman, you run Latin America and the Caribbean. What is the strategy there – a hugely diverse region with many countries?

Jose Roman:

We have a huge region. We have 37 countries, we have diversity. We have several languages, and actually we have six or seven really big markets in the region. But also we have to attend and take care of the small markets. We have to be very focused and think about the customer, about the different needs the dealers have in each country.

Obviously, the secret of the future is to have customer focus. We are working a lot on the after-sales part of the business. The secret is simple: To see what the customer wants.

Q: Returning to Mexico, Nissan is investing heavily in plants in Mexico. How big is it going to get, and how important is the auto industry for Mexico generally?

Jose Luis Valls:

Mexico is turning into a hub of  manufacturing and exports. We currently export to over 100 countries and will produce more than 1 million units in Mexico soon. So that’s a big, big plan. We are currently under construction with Aguascalientes 2. It will take our production over 1 million units.

Currently, at the manufacturing facilities over 80% of the structure is already built, under the leadership of our Vice President of Manufacturing, Armando Avila, they are moving really fast. They will be starting production by the end of November. That will increase the whole capacity to supply Mexico and the rest of the region.

So, this is a very important milestone for Nissan Mexicana. We are No.1 in sales, No. 1 in production, No. 1 in exports, and also No. 1 in investment.

Q: Jose Roman, in Latin America and the Caribbean, who is your No. 1 competitor?

Jose Roman:

The proud team

We have two big competitors. First of all, the Koreans, I think they are doing a good job. And also GM, which has a lot of legacy in the region. They have been really good in focusing on the customer. So, we have a tough market there, but the future is bright for us because we have a nice plan. We’re going to be really aggressive for the next five years.

Q: Jose Luis Valls, GM is a competitor, but there is also collaboration. What’s going on with the NV200?

Jose Luis Valls:

Certainly, it is our main competitor in Mexico as well. They are second in the market. But all these collaboration agreements around the world are more common now, and we will soon be providing for them the NV200 built in Civac in Cuernavaca for the US market. It will not be commercialized in Mexico, but it will be in the US. It is interesting how all these collaboration agreements become more common now, and this is certainly one of those opportunities to leverage our muscle of production and quality we have in Mexico.

Q: Why does Nissan want to sell its commercial vehicles badged as GM?

Jose Luis Valls:

Actually, we want to make the most of our capacity, if it is a potential business that will generate that opportunity. The way this is structured, the engine and transmission doesn’t allow us to currently commercialize that vehicle in the Mexican market or the Latin American market. We need manual transmissions, so that will be an opportunity for the US currently. And, if we can take advantage and leverage for our manufacturing muscle and this is good business over there, I guess Nissan has been very successful in all these collaboration agreements around the world, and this is certainly one of those.

Q: Jose Roman, we saw you in Jamaica recently presenting Usain Bolt his gold GT-R. What was the event like?

Jose Roman:

It was an amazing event, really simple actually, because we wanted to deliver the best car in the world to the best athlete in the world. So, we delivered the car and Usain Bolt was shocked with the product. He was hugging the GT-R. He was really happy, and we took advantage of the opportunity to see the foundation he has there. He’s helping a lot of children there.

It was a really simple and nice, and I would say frugal event, but with a lot of feeling for the brand.

Q: Jose Luis Valls, let’s talk about the Tsuru, an iconic car, based on a Sentra but seen as the quintessential Mexican car. How do you go about renewing an iconic car like that?

Jose Luis Valls:

The Tsuru is the foundation, the big champion for so many years. In more than 50 years of history in Mexico, the Tsuru has a strong role, successful history. It is a symbol of reliability and quality for any car in Mexico, because most of the public transportation taxis in Mexico are Tsuru.

Although now it is not our No. 1 seller – we have the Versa, NV300, Sentra, March – that are taking that position, along with the Tiida, it is still among the Top 5 best sellers in Mexico. Five out of the ten top sellers in Mexico are Nissans. Actually, last month we had six out of the top ten sellers in Mexico. Tsuru has always been there.

The proud team

We used to sell a lot of Tsuru, a big portion of our sales were Tsuru. Now it is becoming smaller, but it still is a big champion for public transportation. Every time we reduce production, we have a lot of complaints from the market because they want more Tsuru, so the Tsuru is there to stay.

As long as the market is requesting Tsuru, we will be more than happy to keep supplying more.

Q: Is that a commitment to keep manufacturing the car?

Jose Luis Valls:

We have Government regulations – sooner or later the story will end. But certainly it is a big champion. Tsuru is for reliability, durability, quality. It is a foundation for our product that will never let you down. From that platform of rational durability we are building the emotional part of Nissan, with all the new launches. We just launched Pathfinder, just launched Altima, Sentra. We are the leaders of the full-sized crossovers with the new Pathfinder.

We have a strong foundation of rational attributes, reliability, durability, with the emotion of innovation and excitement. Both together are making us very strong.

May 16 – Chennai – Some 100 million vehicles now ply India’s roads, with economic growth spurring thousands more to go behind the wheel every week.

Sadly, an alarming number of road accidents also puts India atop the list of nations with the worst accident rate worldwide, with an average of 17 lives per hour lost to road accidents in 2011.

Nissan Safety Driving Forum in New Delhi

“India probably has one of the lowest rates of people belting up,” said Sivam Sabesan, part of Technology Planning at Nissan India.

“Correspondingly, we also have the highest fraction of fatalities to accident ratio, which I think is something that needs to be looked at.”

The Nissan Safety Driving Forum kicked off in Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai this year, aiming for more Indian drivers and passengers to belt up.

The rollover simulator built by the NSDF team

A rollover and low-speed crash simulator especially-built by a team in India and Japan allowed visitors to experience how seat belts worked.

“The whole part of building the simulators was really tough, being the first time here in India,” said Prasad Ponnuswamy, a senior engineer in the team.

“But the moment you see the customers absolutely delighted and saying that ‘I will wear the seatbelt’, you feel mission accomplished.”

The low-speed crash simulator travels at 4-5 kph

The three events attracted 26,000 visitors over six days and Nissan plans to expand the program to five more cities this year, including Kolkata and Bangalore.

“This experience is actually a slow one – the car was rolling slowly. What happens if it rolls faster? That’s very dangerous,” said one driver after trying the rollover simulator.

The events attracted 26,000 visitors in three cities

“Normally when my father tells me to wear my seat belt, I wore it but never understood the significance of it. Now I understand the importance of it.”

Nissan hopes the program will contribute to minimizing road fatalities in India and ensure drivers walk away with the right message – “Safety begins with me!”

JAMAICA – Earlier this month, Usain Bolt got a custom-made Nissan GT-R. The world’s fastest man loves Nissan’s fastest car. Bolt already has a black Nissan GT-R, but when he partnered with Nissan to give away a gold one for his foundation, he wanted one too.

“They made a gold GT-R and auctioned it off to help my foundation,” said Bolt. “For me that has done a lot so far and will do a lot more in the upcoming months. We have helped a lot of kids all around Jamaica.”

Nissan executives gave Bolt the keys to his new car at his home training facility in Jamaica. Bolt could not wait to get the car on the track. But he found out he can’t quite beat it in a race.

Click here to view the embedded video.

“The car has a slight edge, just a little bit,” said Bolt.

Bolt’s gold GT-R has been customized to suit his driving style. Nissan engineers recorded data during Bolt’s test drive of the GT-R line-up when he visited the company headquarters in October of 2012. The visual specs of the car, including exterior and interior color and wheels, were selected by Bolt himself.

“I think it’s just a full package,” said Bold. “For me the color is just out of this world because as you know, I am the golden boy so it works well. I think I will be driving it a lot.”

Bolt was recently named Nissan Director of excitement and been part of the company’s global brand campaign for the last year.