Last month, Toyota announced its Mirai fuel-cell car, which is scheduled to go on sale in the fourth quarter of 2015. It will be available with a base price of US$57,500 (before federal and/or state incentives) or a 36 month lease, with US$4,649 up front and a US$499 monthly payment.
Other car companies are currently developing their own hydrogen powered cars but Nissan, in spite of having teamed up with Ford and Daimler AG in January 2013 to jointly research and develop fuel-cell vehicles is wary of this technology.
“We need to promote the electric vehicle first rather than hydrogen”, Nissan Motor Co. Vice Chairman Toshiyuki Shiga told The Japan Times, adding that fuel-cell is something Nissan will promote “in the long-term future”.
Shiga said that both electric and fuel-cell technologies are important but currently the investment involved in the latter is excessive due to the high cost of building hydrogen stations, especially in Japan, even though the government is now ready to provide some subsidy.
“Without government support, it is quite difficult to launch fuel-cell cars now not only in Japan but also other countries”, he commented. “The electric vehicle is currently more economically feasible for the customers.”
In 2010 Nissan became the first company to launch a mass-produced all-electric car, the Leaf, first in Japan and the US and then to a total of 40 countries.
According to Shiga, “Nissan is still the leader of the electric vehicle” and is naturally not willing to relinquish its position – especially with China promoting sales of EVs and the Japanese manufacturer having just launched its first, Leaf-based EV in the country.
“The Chinese government is now strongly pushing to increase EV sales to reduce air pollution in the countries. Maybe there are a lot of opportunities for us to expand”, he said, adding that Nissan is looking to launch new products “more focused on the younger, post-‘80s generation”.
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