The mid-size sedan battle rages on year after year. Perennial kings are dethroned while new challengers emerge boasting fresh styling and a bountiful list of standard features. Consumer Reports launched its June issue today, inside which the institute's testers have pitted four-cylinder versions of the Kia Optima and Honda Accord against each other to determine which is top dog, and then ranked them both against their peers.
As it has at Autoblog Towers, the 2011 Kia Optima drew big praise from the Consumer Reports crew. In fact, the Korean squeezed out a higher rating than the veteran Honda Accord. It may have only beat the Honda by one point (81 to 80), but this represents a significant win for Kia. The opinion of Consumer Reports is highly valued by a large number of car shoppers, and this victory ought to push the Optima further onto the radar of the American car-buying public. Despite beating the Accord and earning a "Very Good" rating, however, the Optima is still nowhere near the top of the heap in Consumer Reports' ratings of four-cylinder mid-size sedans. The Nissan Altima (a perennial CR favorite) still holds the top spot with a rating of 91, neatly trumping the Optima in sixth place and the Accord in seventh.
Production is ramping up at Nissan factories across Japan following the tragic events of March 11. Nissan’s production fell sharply in the wake of the devastating earthquake. However, compared to Toyota and Honda, whose March output each fell about 62 percent, Nissan has not faced such a precarious spot.
In Tochigi, the largest of the three main assembly plants where Nissan makes GT-Rs, Infiniti Ms and other models, factory lights are back on and production is gearing up. The plant has been in operation since 1971 and makes the automaker’s top sports cars and luxury models.
“Everything is fixed and ready now. It is just an issue of parts supply that is holding us back from full production,” said Hiromi Takaoka, General Manager at Nissan Tochigi Plant. “If everything is prepared, we are ready to resume production to 100 percent or even more. Through this earthquake, we have learned that everything is possible, if we join our forces together. Nothing is impossible, and we won’t let this earthquake beat us.”
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Nissan chosen as exclusive provider of NYC taxi fleet
New York is “hailing” a new era of urban mobility today, as the city with the nation’s largest taxi fleet has selected Nissan to design and supply the next-generation “Taxi of Tomorrow.” The announcements were made today during a City Hall press briefing that included Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Nissan Americas Chairman Carlos Tavares.
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