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Mitsubishi i MiEV Electric car launches in Japan

Mitsubishi i MiEV electric car launched in Japan at around £20,000 Until now, electric cars have been very much an oddity. The laughable G-Whiz and the Tesla Roadster are interesting in their own way, but unless you want to look like Noddy’s best friend (G-Whiz) or are happy to have a second-rate Lotus Elise at three times the price (Tesla), there wasn’t much to appeal to the normal car buyer. But it’s changing.

2013 Nissan LEAF updated

Nissan has updated the LEAF EV in Japan for 2013 with better range, less weight and a new LEAF S entry-level model. Revealed in Japan – but likely to come to the UK from 2013 when the LEAF starts rolling out of Nissan’s Sunderland factory – there are significant upgrades to the powertrain which result in both less weight and better range. Nissan has had a play with the electric powertrain and made it both smaller and lighter with a new motor that uses 40 per cent less dysprosium (a rare earth metal) than before, and comes in 30 per cent smaller and 10 per cent lighter, and a new streamline battery case and a few other tweaks drops the LEAF’s weight by 80kg.

New Nissan Terrano is a rebadged Dacia Duster

The new Nissan Terrano (pictured) is a rebadged Dacia Duster The Dacia Duster SUV has been taking Europe by storm for several years with its combination of cheapness, ruggedness and a surprising ability to do its job. In tough economic times budget buys are a big seller, and with the Dacia Duster SUV costing from just £8995 (although you’ll need to pay more for a 4WD version) Dacia have been able to sell as many as they can build. That meant the UK and Ireland having to wait for the Duster to arrive until capacity could be found in India to build RHD versions, and now it seems Nissan are about to utilise its production facilities in Chennai to turn out a new Nissan Terrano that is actually a rebadged Dacia Duster.