Japan's Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ:NSANY), slated to receive a piece of the $25 billion the U.S. Department of Energy
set aside for makers of fuel-efficient cars, will debut its first electric vehicle in August. Nissan plans to sell the cars -- with a 100-mile battery life -- in Japan next year, followed by the U.S. after April and
globally in 2012.
Nissan's rivals such as Toyota Motor Corp. have been more focused on popular gas-electric hybrid cars. Nissan and Toyota are hoping to ride clean cars back to profits as they possibly face a second year of losses after the global economic meltdown.
The driving force behind sales will not only be an appetite for zero-emission vehicles but an inexpensive price. CEO Carlos Ghosn says he's not worried about selling the cars. Ghosn plans to make about 100,000 of them a year at a $500 million plant in Tennessee. Rival Mitsubishi Motors Corp. has already unveiled an electric car, but with a price tag of about $50,000. And Silicon Valley startup Tesla Motors is trying to hit big buyers with its electric Roadster going for about $80,000.
Going global is quite a task for Nissan, but it's not going that road alone. When first hearing of the plan, we were intrigued by its uniqueness. Its plan -- along with longtime JV partner Renault SA -- calls for creating
a vertical countrywide infrastructure by
teaming with governments and numerous companies in numerous industries.
In May 2008, Nissan announced with technology provider NEC Corp. that its JV, Automotive Energy Supply Corp., began operations to
mass produce high-performance lithium-ion batteries for electric cars.
Not only will Nissan and Renault have to produce batteries and manufacture the cars globally, Ghosn says the
new industry business model calls for a post-sale service-oriented structure. It will be very interesting to see how this unfolds. -
Baz HiralalAP source: Ford, Nissan, Tesla to get govt loansNissan to provide free electric cars for Chinese cityFar-reaching electric car JV for Nissan-RenaultNissan full steam ahead on electric JV
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