Semi-autonomous Nissan Leaf certified for road use in Japan [w/video]

Nissan LEAF with Advanced Driver Assist Gets Japan License for Road Test

-First time a vehicle featuring Advanced Driver Assist System will be tested on Japanese roads
-Real-world testing critical as Nissan pushes ahead with development of revolutionary Autonomous Drive to meet 2020 vision

YOKOHAMA, Japan – Nissan President and CEO Carlos Ghosn today took delivery of Japan's first license plate for a car equipped with highly advanced driver assist systems. It clears the way for a Nissan LEAF equipped with the technology to be tested on the public roads in Japan for the first time. The research program will accelerate the development of technologies fundamental to Autonomous Drive. The systems are designed to allow the driver to manually take over control at any time.

The license plate includes the number 2020, which reflects Nissan's goal to be ready with multiple, commercially viable Autonomous Drive vehicles by the year 2020.

"This is an ordinary license plate for an extraordinary vehicle," said Nissan president and CEO Carlos Ghosn. "A month ago we revealed to the world our 2020 Autonomous Drive target. Road testing of the underlying technologies is critical to maintaining our leadership position and we are grateful to the Government of Japan for its support."

The Nissan LEAF to be tested is capable of a number of functions, including:
-Lane keeping
-Automatic Exit
-Automatic lane change
-Automatic overtaking slower or stopped vehicles
-Automatic deceleration behind congestion on freeways
-Automatic stopping at red lights

Nissan is developing Autonomous Drive as it works to achieve virtually zero fatalities in accidents involving its vehicles. The goal stands alongside zero emissions as a key pillar of Nissan's research and development. Autonomous Drive is an extension of the Nissan Safety Shield, which monitors a 360-degree view around vehicles for risks, gives warnings to the driver, and automatically intervenes if necessary. Work is already underway to build a dedicated Autonomous Drive proving ground in Nissan's facility in Oppama, Japan.

Nissan Executive Vice President for Research and Development, Mitsuhiko Yamashita, said: "The realization of the Autonomous Drive system is one of our greatest goals, because Zero Fatalities stands alongside Zero Emissions as major objective of Nissan's R&D. Through public road testing, we will further develop the safety, efficiency and reliability of our technology."

About Nissan Motor Co.
Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., Japan's second-largest automotive company, is headquartered in Yokohama, Japan, and is part of the Renault-Nissan Alliance. Operating with approximately 236,000 employees globally, Nissan sold more than 4.9 million vehicles and generated revenue of 9.6 trillion yen (USD 116.16 billion) in fiscal 2012. Nissan delivers a comprehensive range of over 60 models under the Nissan and Infiniti brands. In 2010, Nissan introduced the Nissan LEAF, and continues to lead in zero-emission mobility. The LEAF, the first mass-market, pure-electric vehicle launched globally, is now the best-selling EV in history.

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Ford taken to task by gov't for Chicken Tax end-around [UPDATE]

Ford is in a bit of a pickle for importing and selling Turkey-built Transit Connect cargo vans as passenger vehicles in the US, then converting them to commercial-vehicle specification stateside in an effort to bypass a 25-percent tax imposed on vehicles imported for commercial use. Automakers are required to pay a 2.5-percent tax on imported passenger vehicles.

The Blue Oval got into trouble for this in a January ruling in which U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials asked Ford to stop the practice of importing the Transit Connect vehicles with passenger seats, then removing and shredding them. Now Automotive News reports that Ford is appealing the ruling. The 25-percent "Chicken Tax," as the tariff is often called, is 50 years old and was enacted as a response to a German tariff on chickens.

Like Ford, Mercede-Benz bypasses the higher tariff, but it does so in a different manner. According to Mercedes Product and Technology Communications Manager Christian Bokich, it partially disassembles Sprinter cargo vans before shipping them to the US, which includes removing the front axle, the engine (which is stamped with the vehicle identification number (VIN) and shipped separately) and "other pieces," then rebuilds them at a plant in South Carolina.

But the ruling against Ford's strategy states that it "serves no manufacturing or commercial purpose" and is there to "manipulate the tariff schedule," Automotive News reports. As Ford's appeal goes through, it is importing the Transit Connect and paying the higher tax, hoping for a favorable outcome and planning to build the next-generation Transit Connect, which it plans to launch before the end of the year, in Spain.

At the same time, Ford is lobbying the government to keep Japanese automakers paying the 25-percent tax on commercial vehicles, but that's because other non-tariff economic barriers make it extremely difficult to import vehicles to Japan.

UPDATE: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated: "Like Ford, Chrysler bypasses the higher tariff, but it does so in a different manner. It partially disassembles Sprinter cargo vans before shipping them to the US, then rebuilds them at a plant in South Carolina." Though Chrysler previously engaged in this practice when it was part of DaimlerChrysler, the Fiat-owned automaker no longer sells Sprinter cargo vans. The text has since been corrected.

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Options dwindle for UK facing winter tied to tight Norway gas

* UK at risk of price spike as Norway's exports are reduced

* Continental Europe to take more gas from Russia

* UK spot prices could rise above Russian oil-linked contracts

By Nerijus Adomaitis

OSLO, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Britain faces a tight winter gas season as it relies heavily on struggling Norwegian supplies and has few alternatives to source cheap gas elsewhere.

Britain already relies heavily on Norwegian imports to meet its needs and analysts say this dependency is set to rise as Russian gas will mainly go to continental Europe, while shipments of overseas liquefied natural gas (LNG) will mostly head to Asia, where customers pay more for gas.

The new gas year starts on October 1, when European gas buyers and sellers adjust supply volumes ahead of the peak demand winter heating season.

But Norway's biggest gas field Troll, which accounts for around 35 percent of its gas production, has had its capacity reduced for much of this year, and its operator says supplies will be limited until 2014.

"We expect to see somewhat reduced capacity into the winter at the Troll field due to technical issues at Troll A," said Morten Eek of the field's operator Statoil, adding that its remaining capacity would still allow the company to "more or less" meet production quotas.

Norway's gas system operator Gassco said production capacity would be reduced by 34 million cubic metres per day until September 2014, compared with a capacity of up to 120 mcm of gas per day before the outage.

Norway exported 103.8 billion cubic metres (bcm) of pipeline gas in the 2012/2013 gas year, which ended on September 30, including 29.8 bcm to the UK, up from 25 bcm during the previous gas year of 2011/2012.

For the first eight months of 2013, Norwegian exports to Europe fell four percent to 68.6 bcm from 71.3 bcm during the same period in 2012.

"Norway normally produces gas at full capacity during the coldest months, and Troll's outage leaves no flexibility to ramp-up production to meet peak demand in case both the UK and continental Europe freeze," said Anette Einarsen, an Oslo-based gas analyst at Thomson Reuters Point Carbon.

News about Norway's gas outage extending throughout the winter has forced British gas traders to buy more forward contracts in order to hedge against any further supply disruptions from Britain's key gas supplier.

LOW FLEXIBILITY

Should Norwegian supplies not meet demand in case of a cold British winter, UK customers could begin importing gas from continental Europe, which receives most of its gas from Russia.

But analysts say such a switch would come at a high cost, forcing British customers to pay above Russian oil-indexed gas prices to attract flows from continental Europe.

Point Carbon estimates Russian oil-indexed price at 74-78 pence per therm, compared with current UK spot prices of under 65 pence and average winter prices of below 70 pence per therm.

Russia sells most of its gas under long-term contracts linked to the price of oil, while Norway has switched increasingly to a pricing model based on gas spot markets such as Britain's National Balancing Point (NBP).

Oil prices have been relatively high as a result of booming demand outside Europe and as a result of political unrest in North Africa and the Middle East, while European spot gas prices have been low because of Europe's sluggish economy.

This means that Russian oil-linked gas prices have been more expensive than Norwegian spot supplies.

To regain competitiveness, Russia's gas export monopolist Gazprom has handed out price rebates worth billions of euros over the past year, bringing its contracts closer to the spot market, and analysts say this will increase Russia's gas market share.

"We expect the continent to take more Russian gas and less Norwegian gas, if we have a normal winter, during the next gas year," said Einarsen.

Russian preliminary gas exports to Europe rose by 14 percent to 105.2 bcm during January-August, and its gas monopoly Gazprom plans to restore supplies to Europe to 152 bcm this year after they fell 8 percent to 139 bcm in 2012.

Alternatively Britain could get gas through shipped supplies of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from suppliers such as Qatar.

But LNG prices are high as its biggest buyers, Japan and South Korea, pay far more for cargoes than European buyers.

Asian spot prices for LNG cargoes are around $15.5 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), equivalent to 155 pence per therm, and analysts say British spot gas prices would have to rise closer to this level in order to convince LNG exporters to sell cargoes to Europe instead of Asia.

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UPDATE 2-Rosneft offers lowball $1.5 bln for TNK-BP minorities

* Offer follows months of bickering

* TNK-BP shares up around 5 percent

* Concern over implications for minority shareholders (Recasts with comparative price, expected outcome)

By Vladimir Soldatkin

MOSCOW, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Oil group Rosneft is to buy the remaining shares in TNK-BP Holding for a fraction of the price it paid BP and a group of oligarchs for their stakes, in a worrying development for minority shareholders in Russian companies.

Rosneft bought the holding company and its parent TNK-BP last year in a $55 billion takeover that created the world's largest publicly traded oil company by output. Minority shareholders own about 5 percent of the unit, now renamed RN Holding.

The deal to buy them out for about $1.5 billion was announced by Rosneft on Monday, after months of tough talk and refusal to acquire the shares had sent jitters through the investor community and raised questions over corporate governance in Russia.

"It will leave a bad impression and raises concerns," said Chris Weafer, senior partner with consultancy Macro-Advisory.

"The next time a big state company is looking at an acquisition of a company, the investors will be immediately very wary of that situation. Minority investors will run ... rather than wait and see what will happen."

Rosneft said it planned to buy out holders of ordinary shares at 67 roubles ($2.07) per share and preferred shares at 55 roubles, the company said. In response, TNK-BP ordinary shares rose by almost 5 percent on Monday to 63.3 roubles, while Rosneft was down 1.27 percent.

But the offer disappointed some investors hoping to get closer to the $3.70 a share analysts calculated that oligarchs including Mikhail Fridman received at the time of the TNK-BP buyout. The other tycoons were German Khan, Viktor Vekselberg and Len Blavatnik.

"The offer is not that generous compared to the $3.70," said one shareholder who spoke on condition of anonymity, but did not comment on whether further steps would be taken.

"This is a bad offer," said Weafer. "The price they are offering to the minorities is almost half what Rosneft paid to BP and the oligarchs... and it sends a negative message."

'NOT A CHARITY'

Rosneft and its powerful president, Igor Sechin, had repeatedly said that the company had no obligation to buy the remaining shares. Sechin has said that Rosneft is not a "charity fund".

He changed his tone on Friday, however, saying that the company would consider buying the shares with a 20 to 30 percent premium to the market price.

Sources close to the minority shareholders have told Reuters that they think Rosneft should buy them out for $2.8 billion, based on what it paid for its majority stake in TNK-BP.

Sberbank CIB analysts said in a note: "The only shareholders who will benefit from this are speculators who bought the shares on the cheap during the long period of uncertainty - precisely the people whom Sechin said he wanted to punish."

Russian stocks trade at a near 50-percent discount to those of other emerging nations, reflecting foreign investors' worries over corruption, corporate governance and stalled efforts to modernise the economy.

Concerns about the treatment of minority shareholders have added to that sentiment.

Veteran investor Mark Mobius, executive chairman of Franklin Templeton's emerging markets group, said earlier in the year that the TNK-BP buyout "is the kind of issue that gives pause for thought on the behalf of investors coming to Russia".

Mobius, whose emerging markets fund has invested in TNK-BP, has around $1.2 billion invested in Russia. He was not available for immediate comment about Monday's offer.

($1 = 32.3337 Russian roubles) (Additional reporting and writing by Megan Davies; editing by Mark Trevelyan)

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China to offer tax breaks to solar power manufacturers

SHANGHAI, Sept 29 | Sun Sep 29, 2013 12:29pm EDT

SHANGHAI, Sept 29 (Reuters) - China's Ministry of Finance announced it will offer tax breaks to manufacturers of solar power products on Sunday, as China moves to support an industry still struggling to deal with massive overcapacity and weak demand.

The ministry said in a short statement on its website that producers of solar power products will receive immediate refunds of 50 percent of value-added taxes.

The National Development and Reform Commission provided subsidies for solar power stations in late August.

"China's bloated photovoltaic industry still faces a grim outlook as many companies are deeply mired in debts," said a report on the official Xinhua news service discussing the announcement.

It cited data from the China Renewable Energy Society saying that the country's top 10 solar panel makers are up to 100 billion yuan ($16.34 billion) in debt, with a debt to asset ratio above 70 percent on average.

Beijing has said it wants to consolidate the industry, but the sector continues to enjoy protection at the central and local level; the latter is particularly strong because solar power companies are frequently major employers.

China's LDK Solar Co Ltd partly defaulted on a bond payment in April, then failed to meet another payment on time in August.

China's Suntech Power Holdings Co Ltd said Chief Executive David King had resigned from the company in mid September, weeks after three directors left amid the solar panel maker's efforts to restructure its debt.

Suntech's Chinese lenders dragged its unit Wuxi Suntech into insolvency proceedings after it defaulted on $541 million in bonds after the business was hit by a glut in solar panels.

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Epic: Tamar Braxton Flies Flag For R&B Live At iTunes Festival (Full Performance)

‘What’s up iTunes, who’s ready to get slayed?‘.

With sales that make her one of the last decade’s fastest selling R&B entertainers, and a credibility factor that’s seen her win fans from all walks of life, Tamar Braxton‘s run at the top is truly a sight to behold.

Now, as her new single ‘The One’ gears up to dominate British radio in the coming week, the Grammy hopeful made her way to London’s ‘Roundhouse’ to perform at the iTunes Festival, serving a showing that stands as nothing short of phenomenal…proving that when it comes to live skills, very few do it better than her.

LQ footage courtesy of YouTuber Ashley Williams below!

Keep it locked on TGJ for HQ footage in the coming hour!

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