Nissan to develop compact hybrids - Nikkei

By Yumiko Nishitani

TOKYO (Reuters) - Nissan (7201.T) aims to develop its own hybrid technology for small and midsize cars and end its procurement of hybrid components from Toyota (7203.T), the Nikkei business daily reported on Friday.

Using the technology, Nissan aims to roll out a hybrid version of the Serena minivan, its best-selling minivan in Japan, in its home market in 2011, the newspaper said.

Nissan, Japan's third-largest carmaker, has said that it plans to begin selling a luxury car using its own hybrid system in 2010 but an expansion of its hybrid line-up would suggest a shift in strategy for the company, which has focussed its efforts on pure electric cars.

Japanese carmakers are under growing pressure to offer hybrid models as demand in Japan has jumped for gasoline-electric vehicles, which receive tax breaks and subsidies under a government initiative to promote cleaner cars.

"The plan underscores the increasingly difficult outlook for relying on electric cars as mainstay products so soon," said Yoshihiko Tabei, an analyst at Kazaka Securities. "Nissan's long-term focus will probably remain on electric cars, but it needs hybrid cars as bridge products for the next decade or so."

Nissan spokeswoman Yuko Sasaki said that while the automaker is considering various options regarding the use of hybrid technology, it has not decided on anything beyond the launch of the luxury vehicle next year.

Nissan, in which France's Renault SA (RENA.PA) holds a 44 percent stake, has set a goal of becoming the leader in the zero-emissions vehicle market. It plans to begin selling electric cars in the United States and Japan in 2010, followed by a global roll-out in 2012.

It sold its first-ever hybrid, the Tino hybrid compact, in 2000 in Japan, but has mostly stayed out of the hybrid market since then. Its only hybrid model now is the Altima, for which it procures core components from Toyota and which is available only in the United States.