Nissan Favors Electric Cars; Aims at 2012

Nissan’s charismatic CEO Carlos Ghosn says the car company is looking to produce a mass-market electric car by 2012. Ghosn says cars running on rechargeable batteries alone are better for urban driving than fuel cell — hydrogen — or gas-electric hybrids like the Toyota Prius.

Nissan has shied away from the hybrid race. It’s Altima Hybrid is only sold in the eight U.S. states with the strictest emission controls. That’s despite widespread praise of the car in the press. This stubborn, almost anti-green attitude makes Ghosn’s statement on an electric-only car a bit odd. At least the company is aiming at some kind of future in alternative propulsion.

Nissan Considers Mass Marketing Electric Cars in 2012 (MarketWatch)