Nissan rolls out electric car at new headquarters

Nissan rolls out electric car at new headquarters

news.yahoo.com

YOKOHAMA, Japan – Nissan Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn drove quietly out of the Japanese automaker's soon-to-open headquarters Sunday in the first public viewing of its new zero-emission vehicle.

It was the first time the external design was shown of Nissan Motor Co.'s environmentally friendly electric automobile, set to go on sale in Japan, the U.S. and Europe next year. The blue hatchback had a sporty design and a recharging opening in the front.

Designer Shiro Nakamura said the vehicle was designed to avoid a stereotypical futuristic design.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Nissan has promised that the Leaf, which goes into mass-production as a global model in 2012, will be about the same price as a gas-engine car such as the 1.5 million yen ($15,000) Tiida, which sells abroad as the Versa, starting at about $10,000.

Ghosn drove out on stage with former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi sitting next to him, and with a Yokohama governor and mayor in the rear seats.

"This car represents a real breakthrough," Ghosn told reporters and guests at a showroom in the new headquarters.

news.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

I'm sorry but every time I hear about what the Japanese are doing these days with Electric cars I just get so upset at what GM did with their own Electric car 12 years ago. I wonder sometimes where would they be today if they were the innovators they once were. Would they be in this mess they are in now?

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/1e4e1db8e5c6.jpg[/atsimg]
EV-1 AKA Chevy Impact

The GM EV1 was an electric car produced and leased by the General Motors Corporation from 1996 to 1999.[1] It was the first mass-produced electric vehicle of the modern era from a major automaker. It was the first GM car designed to be an electric vehicle from the outset. Born as the GM Impact concept car of 1990, a production version came about as a result of a California Air Resources Board mandate that made the production and sale of zero-emission vehicles a requirement for the U.S.'s seven major automakers to sell cars in that state.

The EV1 was initially available in the U.S. cities of Los Angeles, California and Phoenix and Tucson, in Arizona, under a limited lease-only agreement.[2] EV1 lessees were officially participants in a "real-world engineering evaluation" undertaken by GM's Advanced Technology Vehicles group, as well as a market analysis and study into the feasibility of producing and marketing a commuter electric vehicle in select U.S. markets.[3][4] The cars were not available for purchase, and could only be serviced at designated Saturn dealerships. Within a year of the car's release, leasing programs were also launched in San Francisco and Sacramento, California, along with a limited program in Georgia.