Nissan Motor Corp.

For some, the word "vegan" might bring up images of a patchouli oil-drenched, lettuce-eating yoga teacher wearing a PETA shirt and armed with a pail of red paint for the next big fur protest. But in recent years it seems the word has become more normalized. It's finding a place on restaurant menus, food packages, personal care products and — as many in the plastics industry already know — vehicle interiors.

At the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Nissan Motor Co. and its Infiniti brand instead showcased EVs that look more like sedans seen on the road now, which are a vision for what the Japanese automaker could put on the road in just a few years.

One more sign that automakers are under pressure from a spate of new industry challenges — their relations with suppliers have worsened.

What's missing on concept cars shown at the North American International Auto Show? Side mirrors.

According to the just-released Henke survey, which evaluates the purchasing policies of North America's six biggest automakers, suppliers ranked General Motors just behind Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. Ltd.

Nissan is vowing to mend its ways with North American parts suppliers, following a year of criticism that it is pushing too hard for price reductions.

Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.'s possible sale of Calsonic Kansei Corp., one of its biggest suppliers, would cast off a final vestige of the carmaker's keiretsu system of intertwined parts makers.

Toyota and Honda top an annual survey of auto suppliers, but GM rises while Nissan falls.

Deadly earthquakes will shut down virtually all Toyota Motor Corp. production in Japan over the next week, torpedoing exports of Lexus products, the Prius hybrid and some trucks at a critical time when Toyota is trying to get more crossovers for the U.S.