CHIBA, Japan: Japanese giant Nissan on Wednesday unveiled a new electric car with an extended range and semi-autonomous driving functions, as it seeks to battle off competitors in a sector it once pioneered.
The second-generation Nissan Leaf has a potential range of 400 kilometers (250 miles) between charges, compared with 250 kilometers for its previous version.
It also boasts semi-autonomous driving capabilities such as keeping the vehicle automatically in one lane on the motorway or parking without human intervention.
Faced with tighter global environmental regulations, most carmakers are investing heavily in the electric-car sector, sparking a ferocious race to create the next green vehicle.
Nissan was an innovator in the sector seven years ago when it unveiled its first Leaf — which has sold 280,000 units — but has since had to contend with fierce competition from General Motors and Tesla among others.
“The second (Leaf) will be one of our core products — it is not a niche anymore,” Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa told a news briefing for the new car on Wednesday.
Saikawa defended the vehicle’s potential range, which fell short of expectations and puts it behind Tesla’s Model 3.
“(The range) is more than enough for Japan and most European countries,” he said.
The Japanese automaker is hoping to double or triple last year’s annual sales of about 48,000 units.
“With the first generation Leaf, the range was not enough and ‘range anxiety’ became a big issue for a lot of consumers,” Christopher Richter, an auto analyst at brokerage CLSA in Tokyo, told AFP.
“Now, lithium-ion batteries have become much cheaper, so that allows automakers to offer double the range for about the same price.
“So, I would expect the sales to be larger for this new generation of Leaf. However, Nissan will face more competition as there are other quite similar new vehicles on the market,” he added.
The new car will be available next month in Japan, followed by the United States and Canada in January 2018.
The price tag in Japan will be 3.15 million yen (around $29,000).
—AFP
Nissan unveils new electric car in bid to drive off competition
Nissan unveils new electric car in bid to drive off competition
Real Estate Registry signs 10 agreements at forum in Riyadh
RIYADH: The Real Estate Registry concluded its participation in the Real Estate Future 2026, as a partner of the forum, with a distinguished presence that included the launch of its business portal, the signing of 10 agreements and memoranda of understanding with entities from the public and private sectors, the organization of specialized workshops, and the awarding of the Gold Award at the Real Estate Excellence Awards.
During his participation in the forum, the CEO of the firm, Mohammed Al-Sulaiman, reviewed the latest developments in real estate registration in the Kingdom in a keynote speech, highlighting the pivotal role of the Real Estate Registry in building a unified and reliable system for data. He also announced the launch of the national blockchain infrastructure, which aims to enable the microcoding of real estate assets, enhance transparency, expand investment opportunities, and support innovative ownership models within a reliable regulatory framework.
On the sidelines of the forum, Al-Sulaiman met with Nigeria’s Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Ahmed Dangiwa. During the meeting, they discussed areas of joint cooperation, exchanged experiences and advice on shaping the future of the real estate sector, and reviewed best practices in implementing real estate registration systems that enhance reliability and improve the efficiency of property registration.
efficiency of property registration systems.
The Real Estate Registry’s participation included organizing three specialized workshops that focused on the role of geospatial technologies in identifying ownership, enhancing transparency, and improving the quality of real estate data.
The workshop “Empowering the Real Estate Registry for the Business Sector” reviewed digital solutions that enable the business sector to manage its real estate assets more efficiently and enhance governance and technical integration. The workshop “From Off-Plan Sales to Title Deed” focused on the journey of documenting real estate ownership and the role of the registry in linking the stages of development and documentation within an integrated digital system.
On the sidelines of the forum, the Real Estate Registry signed 10 agreements and memorandums of understanding, including a deal with Yasmina Information Technology Co. to utilize real estate data in developing smarter insurance solutions that support the real estate sector and enhance service reliability.
Partnerships were also signed with Haseel, NewTech, and Sahl, as well as HissaTech and Droub, to develop innovative digital solutions in property ownership, fractional ownership, and asset tokenization, as well as real estate finance and investment within a trusted regulatory framework.
Further collaborations included an MoU with ROSHN Group, an agreement with the Saudi Water Authority to enable data integration and quality enhancement, an agreement with the Saudi National Bank, and a partnership with Saudi Post to link the national address with the property registry as a unified geospatial identifier supporting data accuracy and integration.
The registry’s participation was crowned with the Golden Award at the Real Estate Excellence Awards in the category of Excellence in Property Documentation, in recognition of its role in building a model based on transparency, accuracy, and speed, as well as advanced digital technologies and specialized legal expertise, contributing to rights protection and increasing the sector’s attractiveness.
The Real Estate Registry emphasized that its participation reflects its continued role as a key enabler of the real estate sector, a trusted data source, and an active partner in driving digital transformation, enhancing market efficiency, and building investor and financier confidence, in line with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 objectives for a fully integrated and sustainable digital real estate ecosystem.
