There’s no denying the Renault-Nissan Alliance’s position as a leader in the development of electric cars – but just how many of these vehicles does the Alliance expect to be able to mass market?
According to Nissan President and CEO Carlos Ghosn, when the Nissan LEAF goes on sale this year – which will be the first of eight all-electric models to launch – the company will be able to mass-market zero emission vehicles backed by battery capacity of 500,000 units.
Ghosn believes that no other car manufacturer will be able to produce electric batteries or cars on such a scale. He also believes that customers are ready for this expansion now with 130,000 consumers in the US having registered their interest in buying a Nissan LEAF. With 13,000 pre-orders having been submitted in just over one month in the US and Japan, the amount already surpasses available production capacity in the fiscal year 2010.
Nissan is also planning a line-up of global compact cars based on its new V-platform – and these will represent one million unit sales at full launch. The company hopes to produce more than one million cars a year in China alone in 2012 and will expand capacity down the line as the market grows. India too is seen as a hot developing market, with an Alliance plant in Chennai starting production with a 200,000 unit capacity – the plan is to increase this to 400,000 units to supply the Indian market as well as to export to more than 100 countries in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
