If you doubted Nissan was serious about offering pure electric vehicles to the world, heed the words of Brian Carolin, senior vice president for Nissan's sales and marketing in North America.
"By the middle of the next decade," Carolin told Automotive News, "ten percent of our volume will be EV."
This goal will largely be attainable thanks to the like of the 2011 Leaf, a five-door EV unveiled earlier this year. The Leaf will offer a 100 mile range on a full charge, yet quick chargers (still under development) may allow an 80-percent recharge within 30 minutes. Nissan plans to manufacture the Leaf in its Smyrna, Tennesse, facility by 2012, and given the flexibility of its platform (although unique, it is quite similar to Nissan's B- and C-segment architectures), it's likely we may see EV variants of Nissan's compact car offerings in the future.
On that end, Nissan's Versa and Sentra are scheduled for a complete overhaul in 2012, as is the Pathfinder SUV. The latter will likely move to the larger Nissan Patrol platform in an attempt to reduce the use of the F-Alpha platform. On that note, the Armada SUV is likely to die after next year, while the future of the Titan is in question following a failed joint venture with Chrysler.
Nissan originally hoped a Chrysler-built Titan could hit the market by 2011, the same year a replacement for the Quest minivan (possibly built off the Japanese-market ElGrand) arrives within showrooms.
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