Earlier this month, we reported on Nissan’s plans to drop the Altima Hybrid from its lineup at the end of the 2011 model year because of poor sales in the States as well as the fact that it uses a hybrid system borrowed from its chief Japanese rival, Toyota.
On Monday, Japanese business daily Nikkan Kogyo said that Nissan has already began work on a new hybrid system for front-wheel drive cars that will be based on the firm’s rear-wheel-drive hybrid drivetrain that launched in the 2012 Infiniti M Hybrid.
The system will pair the M Hybrid’s single electric motor and two-clutch arrangement with a smaller displacement four-cylinder gasoline engine and a continuously variable transmission. Energy will be stored in a set of lithium-ion batteries.
The Japanese newspaper said that the new hybrid drivetrain will make its market debut as early as 2012, possibly on the next generation of the Altima, but will also be used on several new models.
Source: Nikkan Kogyo via Autonews
