Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. announced today that the new Serena, scheduled to go on sale in Japan in late August, will come equipped with the company’s ProPILOT

Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. announced today that the new Serena, scheduled to go on sale in Japan in late August, will come equipped with the company’s ProPILOT autonomous drive technology, offering convenience and peace of mind during highway mobility.

ProPILOT

ProPILOT is a revolutionary autonomous drive technology designed for highway use in single-lane traffic. Nissan is the first Japanese automaker to introduce a combination of steering, accelerator and braking that can be operated in full automatic mode, easing driver workload in heavy highway traffic and long commutes.

Employing advanced image-processing technology, the car’s ProPILOT system understands road and traffic situations and executes precise steering enabling the vehicle to perform naturally. ProPILOT technology is extremely user-friendly, thanks to a switch on the steering wheel that allows the driver to easily activate and deactivate the system. ProPILOT’s easy-to-understand and fit-to-drive interface includes a personal display showing the operating status.

System Configuration

The accelerator, brakes and steering are controlled based on information obtained through a mono camera equipped with advanced-image processing software. The ProPILOT camera can quickly recognize in three-dimensional depth both preceding vehicles and lane markers.

Functions

Once activated, ProPILOT automatically controls the distance between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle, using a speed preset by the driver (between approximately 30 km/h and 100 km/h). The system also keeps the car in the middle of the highway lane by reading lane markers and controlling steering, even through curves.

If a car in front stops

The ProPILOT system automatically applies the brakes to bring the vehicle to a full stop. After coming to a full stop, the vehicle will remain in place even if the driver’s foot is off the brake pedal. When ready to resume driving, ProPILOT is activated when the driver touches the switch again or lightly presses the accelerator.

Nissan is carrying out intensive studies of driving conditions in various regions so that ProPILOT will be well suited to the conditions in the markets in which it will be launched. The ProPILOT system equipped on the Serena in Japan was developed in pursuit of an easy-to-use technology for highway driving conditions in Japan.

Making Zero Fatalities a Reality

Nissan is proactively working on vehicle intelligence and vehicle electrification to make its corporate visions of “Zero Emissions” and “Zero Fatalities” a reality. Under “Nissan Intelligent Mobility”, ProPILOT promotes safety and instills confidence in drivers, and it is part of “Nissan Intelligent Driving”.

ProPILOT will be introduced into other vehicles, including the Qashqai in Europe in 2017. There are also plans for the technology to be introduced in the U.S. and China markets. A multi-lane autonomous driving technology will enable automatic lane changes on highways and is planned for introduction in 2018 while autonomous driving on urban roads and in intersections is planned for launch in 2020.

Nissan will advance its leadership in autonomous drive technology by introduction in each market’s core models, further improving safety and pioneering a new era for the automobile.

Top 30 cars sold in Japan for 2014, ALL 30 are from home grown brands.

In 2014, the Toyota Aqua was again the top-selling car model in Japan. The Honda Fit took second place from the Prius with the evergreen Corolla fourth. The Japanese car market expanded by 3.5% to just over 5.5 million new vehicle registrations in 2014.

Best-Selling Car Models in Japan in 2014 (Full Year)

The 30 top-selling car models in Japan in 2014 according to new passenger vehicle registration statistics released by JADA were:

Rank 2013	Rank 2014	Model	Brand	2014 Sales	% Change
1	1	Aqua	Toyota	233,209	-11.1
3	2	Fit	Honda	202,838	11.8
2	3	Prius	Toyota	183,614	-27.6
5	4	Corolla	Toyota	114,331	12.5
16	5	Voxy	Toyota	109,174	160.4
4	6	Note	Nissan	106,765	-27.3
	7	Vezel	Honda	96,029	4,351.10
7	8	Vitz	Toyota	89,496	4.2
6	9	Serena	Nissan	76,909	-20.2
22	10	Noah	Toyota	69,605	115.5
	11	Harrier	Toyota	64,920	3,363.70
9	12	Freed	Honda	54,313	-20.6
25	13	X-TRAIL	Nissan	53,736	90.6
15	14	Passo	Toyota	49,770	16.3
8	15	Crown	Toyota	49,166	-40.5
14	16	Demio	Mazda	48,564	11.5
11	17	Impreza	Subaru	45,841	-21.3
10	18	Step WGN	Honda	42,743	-31.3
	19	Axela	Mazda	42,527	136.4
17	20	Swift	Suzuki	39,382	-3.8
13	21	Supeido	Toyota	38,733	-20.3
12	22	VELLFIRE	Toyota	36,734	-27.4
24	23	Solio	Suzuki	32,857	8.5
	24	Odyssey	Honda	32,749	120.9
	25	Levorg	Subaru	30,258	New
18	26	CX-5	Mazda	29,466	-23.5
23	27	Porte	Toyota	26,648	-15.8
19	20	Forrester	Subaru	25,921	-24.3
21	29	Alphard	Toyota	25,863	-23.4
20	30	Estima	Toyota	25,688	-26.4

The list does not include Kei minicars, which are hugely popular in Japan.

Top-Ten Best-Selling Car Models in Japan in 2014

Japanese car buyers are notoriously fickle with the launching of new models (and the aging of old ones) having a strong influence in the number of cars sold. Wide swings are often the norm when a new model is imminent.

However, at the top, the same three models have been the best-selling cars for several years now. In 2014, for the second consecutive year, the Toyota Aqua was Japan’s favorite car model. Sales of the Aqua (Prius C in some overseas markets) contracted by 11%. The first minor updates of the model, which has been on sale since early 2012, were made only at the end of 2014.

The Honda Fit (Jazz in some overseas markets) was the only model amongst the top three to have increased sales in Japan in 2014. The third generation of the Fit was launched in Japan in September 2013.

Sales of the Toyota Prius were down by more than a quarter in Japan in 2014. The current Prius was launched in 2009 – in 2010, it was the most-sold car ever in Japanese history when it sold 315,000 cars in a single calendar year.

The evergreen Toyota Corolla moved up from fifth to fourth while the Nissan Note lost a quarter of sales and slipped from fourth to sixth.

The most-improved car models were the Toyota Voxy and its sister model Noah. These eight-seater minivans have been enormously popular in Japan and the new models allowed the Voxy to improve from 16th to 5th and Noah from 22nd to 10th.

The Honda Vezel (HR-V in some international markets) is a small SUV crossover. Although very well received, the increase in sales reflects that the car was launched towards the end of 2013.

The Toyota Vitz (Yaris in overseas markets) slipped one place despite stronger sales while the Nissan Serena slipped three places with sales down by a fifth.

A few further salient features from the top-selling car models in Japan in 2014:

• The cars slipping out of the top-10 list of best-selling car models in Japan in 2014 were the Toyota Crown (from 8th), Honda Freed (9 th) and Honda Step WGN (10th).
• The Toyota Crown was the worst performer. The Crown is very popular with chauffeurs and taxi drivers in Japan and got a huge boost at the beginning of 2013 when a new model was launched.
• The Toyota Harrier is a large SUV similar to the Lexus RX – its 10th place is remarkably high for a large car not particularly needed on Japan’s carpet smooth roads.

The top-selling car brand in Japan in 2014 was again Toyota – partly confirmed by having 6 of the top 10 most-popular car models.

WORLDWIDE RECALL - NISSAN - Potential risk of fire due to insufficiently tightened sensors.

Nissan Motor Co. is recalling about 470,000 SUVs and cars globally, including 143,000 in North America, for possible fuel leaks.

Nissan is recalling the vehicles from the 2012-15 model years because fuel pressure sensors may not have been sufficiently tightened during production. That could lead to a fuel leak over time due to heat and vibration, increasing the risk of a fire, according to documents posted online by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The affected models have direct-injection engines.

A Nissan spokesman said there have been no reports of accidents or injuries related to the issue.

In the U.S., the affected vehicles include certain 2012-14 Nissan Juke SUVs, 2012-13 Infiniti M56 cars and QX56 SUVs, and 2014-15 Infiniti Q70 sedans and QX80 SUVs, according to the NHTSA documents. In other markets, affected model names include the Nissan Serena, X-Trail, Patrol, Tiida and Pulsar, Nissan said.

In addition to the recalled vehicles in North America, about 233,000 of the affected vehicles are in Japan, 22,500 are in Europe and 71,500 are in in the Middle East, China, Latin America, Africa and other markets, Nissan said.

Dealers will replace the fuel sensors, if needed, at no cost. The spokesman said the automaker began notifying owners globally late last month.

TMW THOUGHTS 

Just one word describes this and all the other recalls

DISGUSTING