Nissan Motor Co. wants to sell in 2010 a hybrid vehicle developed in-house, by limiting its licensing ties with Toyota Motor Corp. to the Altima sedan. This news appeared in Tokyo- Reuters.
Nissan and Toyota are two of the biggest names on Asian cars market and they have signed a deal in 2002 where they accepted that Toyota would sell its hybrid system to Nissan.
Nissan, which holds 44% of Renault SA (France), has increased its department of creating a power train, which twins an electric motor with a gasoline engine, to save fuel.
Carlos Ghosn, which is Nissan’s Chief Executive, stays lukewarm on hybrids, because it makes small money, despite their higher retail price.
The Altima hybrid was necessarily to clear average fuel economy regulations in California. But, Nissan has been working to create their own hybrid technology and to make it as good as the one available on the market.
Nissan Altima
Hybrid cars were “invented” by Toyota, starting with Prius sedan and now are very popular around the world, but remain a niche product, even on the US market. They are making up to less than 2% of new US vehicle sales, although this is their biggest market.
Toyota Prius
Tags: Nissan, Toyota, Altima, hybrid, Prius, fuel economy, US vehicles