After Gutenberg

Making excellent buggy whips was NOT a claim to fame when horseless carriages began to prevail.

The Yomiuri Shimbun (Sep. 23, 2006) reports that Nissan Motor Co. will end a joint agreement with Toyota on development of hybrid electric vehicles. Nissan intends to produce low-emission and fuel-efficient models independently by 2010. “The new compact car models will be equipped with a lithium-ion battery system and include a plug-in hybrid vehicle that can be recharged at home.”

Like Ford, Nissan has had to use Toyota’s hybrid system to stay abreast of technological development when Honda and Toyota entered the HEV market. Nissan plans to put about 100,000 units of its Altima Hybrid model on the U.S. market early next year.

Nissan had been one of the major global manufacturers that eschewed hybrid technology, choosing instead to focus on hydrogen. But, now, as the Japanese automotive business article concluded, “competition among carmakers over developing low-emission vehicles likely will intensify”, so Nissan / Renault has embarked on full-scale mass production of hybrid cars.

With a deserved reputation for excellence in gasoline-powered engines, which may account for some reluctance, Nissan, as previously noted, has two development pathways that will help with transition to plug-in hybrid technology: a Super Motor and Continuously Variable Transmission.