Nissan Rebadges Mazda5 MPV for Japan, Calls it the New Lafesta Highway Star

After preparing its customers with an announcement in January, Nissan today went ahead and introduced a re-badged version of the Mazda5 MPV (called Premacy in its home market) in the form of the new Lafesta Highway Star. The compact minivan is supplied to Nissan by Mazda on an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) basis, and will be sold exclusively in Japan.

The transformation of the Mazda5 into the Lafesta Highway Star was a rather straightforward process accomplished by adding Nissan’s logos inside and out, restyling the front end that gains a new hood, lights and bumpers, smoothing out the Mazda’s swoopy profile lines and adding a chrome strip between the tail lamps.

The 7-seater model is offered with a 2.0-liter four-cylinder gasoline engine coupled to an automatic transmission with five-speeds in the front-wheel drive model and four-speeds in the all-wheel drive versions.

In Japan, prices for the new Lafesta Highway Star range from 1,991,850 Yen to 2,483,250 Yen (US$24,650 to $30,700) with Nissan aiming to sell around 1,200 units per month.

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Nissan Leaf vs Chevrolet Volt: Who will Win the Sales Battle?

Even though the new Nissan Leaf and the Chevrolet Volt are two very different cars when it comes to details, they do have a common denominator: they are the most technologically advanced eco-friendly vehicles that are mass-produced and readily available in the U.S. market. That said, it’s interesting to see how they’re doing in sales this year.

Believe it or not, it’s a fierce neck-to-neck sales battle so far in 2011 with only 17 cars separating the Leaf from the Volt. Nissan has delivered 2,184 examples of the pure-electric Leaf from January to the end of May, while GM has sold 2,167 units of Chevrolet’s extended range electric vehicle in the same period.

However, that may soon change as Chevrolet has just expanded the availability of the Volt from seven states plus the District of Columbia to all 50 states in the USA. GM also lowered the base price of the 2012MY Volt by $1,000 to $39,995 (or $32,496 after applying a $7,500 federal tax credit), but the Chevrolet is still significantly more expensive than the Leaf which retails for $32,780 ($25,280 with the tax credit).

Via: USAToday

2011 NISSAN LEAF EV

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2011 CHEVROLET VOLT