Though it has made no secret of the fact that it believes the future of green cars lies with pure electric vehicles, Nissan plans to sell hybrid vehicles based on its own technology in Japan from 2011.

The Nikkei reports that the company will develop a low-cost, compact powertrain similar to those in Honda hybrids with an electric motor that provides additional power to the constantly working engine. This motor will run on high performance lithium-ion batteries and the hybrids should be around 50-60 per cent more fuel efficient than their petrol powered counterparts.

The first vehicle expected to get the hybrid makeover will be the Serena minivan, which is Nissan’s most popular offering in its home country having sold 33,500 domestically in the first half of the year.

The company has already outlined plans to introduce an electric car in Japan and the US by the end of 2010. It had previously frozen its development of hybrids in 2002 to focus on an agreement with Toyota for the hybrid version of the Altima, which is available in the US.

Nissan has already developed hybrid technology for large and luxury rear-wheel drive vehicles but is believed to have been spurred on by a surge in hybrid sales in Japan last month when they grabbed a nine per cent market share.