Nissan Motor Co, Japan's second-largest carmaker, will develop its own gasoline-electric hybrid cars by 2010 to compete in a segment where it lags behind Toyota Motor Corp and Honda Motor Co.
Nissan, the last of Japan's top three automakers to develop a hybrid, will start selling the vehicles in the US and Japan in fiscal 2010, the company said in a statement yesterday. The Tokyo-based firm will also produce electric cars.
The carmaker has started work on a new lithium-ion battery for use in hybrids and electric vehicles, it said in April.
Chief executive officer Carlos Ghosn had initially opted not to follow rivals when hybrids first came out nine years ago and instead bought parts from Toyota to use in the Altima hybrid.
"Nissan has been working on an advanced battery and components that may be more efficient, high-powered and compact than the ones on the market now, helping it catch up with rivals," said Koji Endo, a senior analyst at Credit Suisse Group in Tokyo, who rates Nissan "outperform."
"Nissan also has an advantage as it can share the cost and time to develop technology with its partner Renault," Endo said.
Nissan and Renault SA, which have had an equity alliance since 1999, are jointly working on engines that run on diesel, bio-ethanol and natural gas, as well as hydrogen-powered fuel cells. Nissan is 44.3 percent owned by Renault.
Hybrid vehicle sales were 0.5 percent of the 62.2 million new cars, light trucks, vans and wagons sold last year globally, according to an estimate by CSM Worldwide in Tokyo.
Nissan's shares rose 0.5 percent to ?1,364 at the close of trading in Tokyo. The stock has risen 14.1 percent this year, outpacing the 1.3 percent drop in the TOPIX index.
Nissan's new motor, lithium-ion battery and inverter may nearly double the acceleration performance of vehicles that run on fuel cells, electricity or hybrid engines, Nissan said in April. The parts may be ready for use by 2009, according to executive vice president Mitsuhiko Yamashita.
In an effort to cut emissions, the company also plans to develop a gasoline-powered car that can run 100km on three liters of fuel. It plans a fuel-cell vehicle by the early part of the next decade, it said.
Nissan will begin selling a two-liter diesel engine in Europe next year and develop diesel engines for North America, Japan and China. The diesel engines for Europe will be developed and produced by Renault. Diesel engines emit about 20 percent less carbon-dioxide than gasoline engines. Nissan will start selling its US Altima hybrid, which uses Toyota components, from early next year.
The hybrid models that will go on sale in 2010 will be profitable, chief operating officer Toshiyuki Shiga said.
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