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."
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique