Nissan Motor Co. Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn said Tuesday the company plans to produce an electric vehicle in the U.S., becoming the first Japanese car maker to mass produce such a zero-emission model overseas. Wall Street Journal
He said the company would unveil its first electric car in August of this year, with sales to begin in 2010.
Mr Ghosn, who also heads sister firm Renault, said both companies planned to produce three different electric cars. BBC News
Along with production in Japan and Europe, Ghosn said Nissan would make electric vehicles in the United States at its Smyrna plant in Tennessee with initial output capacity of more than 100,000 units per year.
“The U.S. is going to be a very important market” for the company’s electric vehicle strategy, he said.
“I can tell you I’m not at all worried about how to sell these cars because there is an appetite for zero-emission cars.”
Other carmakers are also racing to produce fully electric cars. U.S.-based Tesla Motors has a prototype that is scheduled to be produced by 2011. Toyota Motor Corp. has said it plans to sell electric vehicles in the U.S. by 2012 while Chinese automaker Dongfeng Motor Corp. has teamed up with a Dutch-based company to develop and make electric cars.
Ghosn gave few details, but stressed that Nissan’s zero-emission cars will come “with a very reasonable price.”
“If it’s not affordable, it’s not going to work,” Ghosn told reporters.
“We are not going to come with a very high price. We are going to come with a reasonable price,” he said. “We are here to mass market them.” The Associated Press
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