Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. will co-host the 9th National Wheelchair Marathon “NISSAN Cup Oppama Championship 2008″ for three days from December 5 to December 7, 2008. The special marathon will take place at its Oppama Plant (Natsushima-cho, Yokosuka City, Kanagawa-Prefecture) and Yokosuka City, Kanagawa Prefecture.

Marking its ninth year, the national wheelchair marathon has greatly contributed to the development of sports for the disabled. The event has helped strenghtened bonds between the corporate sector and local communities with over 500 Nissan employees and local volunteers working together as route-marshals and water-station staff along the route every year since the first event in 2000.

Attracting about 200 wheelchair marathoners every year, including accomplished paralympic athletes from all over Japan, the event celebrates the greatness of these outstanding athletics.

Nissan’s employees contribute to its “Taiyo Fund” which goes to various athletic organizations for the disabled. The marathon route will pass through Nissan’s Grandrive proving ground next to its Oppanma plant and the adjacent public roads.

Nissan continues to support community-based projects that will help contribute to improved quality of life for the communities in which it operates.

Source: Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.

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National Wheelchair Marathon

Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. announced it will introduce its ultra-low precious metal catalyst on the new Cube*1, to be launched on Nov. 19. The breakthrough catalyst, a world’s first, utilizes half the amount of precious metals compared with conventional catalysts.

Of the world’s precious metals reserve, a high percentage of platinum (50%) and rhodium (80%) are used in the automotive industry as catalysts.

In conventional catalysts, the high temperatures within the catalyst cause the precious metals to cluster, reducing the exposed metal surface area, leading to less-effective cleaning of the emissions. To compensate, existing converters contain higher amount of precious metals in order to maintain an efficient level of cleaning.

With Nissan’s pioneering technology, the precious metal attached to the substrates*2 are separated by a “wall material” which prevents clustering of the precious metals, leading to improved cleaning efficiency. Masanori Nakamura, manager of the Nissan Research Center explained the concept using the analogy of “eggs protected in a bird’s nest”, adding that “Nissan engineers approached the problem from a physical perspective rather than a chemical perspective in order to achieve the breakthrough.”

The new under floor catalyst to be introduced in the next generation Cube uses half the amount of precious metals, from 1.3g down to .65g. Efficiency is improved with 75% less nitrogen oxides (NOx) and non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHC) emitted, lower than the Japan 2005 exhaust emission standards.

The ultra-low precious metal catalyst will be produced in Nissan’s Yokohama Plant for the domestic vehicle market. This technology has been developed under the Renault-Nissan Alliance, and future applications will include Renault vehicles and diesel engines as well as potential for non-automotive application.

Source: Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.

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