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Ghosn eyes Mahindra for India deal

Carlos Ghosn, head of Japan's Nissan Motor Corp and France's Renault, said yesterday that India's Mahindra would be the "natural" partner if the company decides to produce a US$3,000 car there.

"If it's possible to be done, it will be done in India," Ghosn told reporters in Bangkok.

"If it's done, it will be done for Renault and Nissan," he said.

"Mahindra would be the natural partner," he said.

Ghosn said after a shareholders meeting last week in Tokyo that he saw ready opportunities for a low-cost car in India on the back of a burgeoning middle class.

An Indian carmaker has already announced plans to produce such a car next year, he said in Bangkok.

But Ghosn said the company was only studying the possibility, and that Renault remained focused on selling its low-cost Logan, which was introduced in India in April.

Mahindra is the firm's local partner in producing the Logan. Renault, Nissan and Mahindra are also building a US$902 million factory together in the southern Indian city of Chennai.

Thailand, which is the world's top producer of light pickups, this month unveiled an incentive plan to convince automakers to begin producing environmentally friendly passenger cars here.

Ghosn said that Thailand's proposal to automakers was "one of the considered options" for the company, but added that the scheme appeared to favor bigger automakers in the kingdom.

Toyota, Isuzu, and Honda control about three-fourths of the Thai market.

But Ghosn said his company is working hard to develop the next generation of smaller, lighter auto batteries -- a technology that holds promise not just for hybrids but also for electric cars.

Automakers are racing to develop viable lithium ion batteries, which are common in gadgets such as laptops and cellphones but have yet to be fully adapted to the more rigorous demands of a car engine.

Nissan, which has fallen behind rivals in hybrid vehicles, recently opened a new tech center in Japan dedicated to developing green technologies. Ghosn believes that Nissan's investment in new technologies will help it narrow the gap or even put it ahead of competitors down the road.

"If you have an efficient battery for a hybrid, why not go all the way and go for electric cars?" he said. "It has zero emissions of anything."

Electric cars have failed to catch on because they are expensive, difficult to recharge and travel limited distances. Still, several auto companies are trying to develop them for the mass market.

Ghosn said Nissan was currently negotiating a deal to put a fleet of electric cars on the market. He declined to give a timeframe or specific number, only saying "hundreds."
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