Continuing the theme from our earlier post on how the cash crisis could kill electric cars, it now appears that hybrid cars too could come under threat.
CEO of Japan’s Nissan Motor and France’s Renault, Carlos Ghosn, warned that car manufacturers “can’t find the financing” for aggressive development of green cars during a speech at the LA Auto Show. He expects the recession in the motoring sector to last until 2010 and says car makers are struggling to divert cash to hybrids which are more expensive to make.
In recent times, General Motors (GM) has delayed its advanced Saturn Vue petrol-electric hybrid in an effort to save money. The vehicle features a crossover two-mode system that was due to have gone on sale in December but has now been delayed to the first quarter of 2009.
Chrysler has also halted production of its eagerly anticipated Dodge Durango and Chrysler Aspen hybrid SUV models. Production has halted because the company can no longer afford to keep its Delaware plant, where the cars are constructed, open.
Toyota is also said to be considering delaying the opening of a factory in Mississippi which was to manufacture more Prius hybrid models.
Ghosn stated profits for Nissan in the fiscal half ending March 31 would not be zero but that they would be ‘close to it’ and that all manufacturers are in the same position – except those that are in denial.
