Nissan-Infiniti To Introduce Six New EVs In The Next Five Years

With the Leaf, Nissan has emerged as one of the leading producers of electric vehicles. But it has plans for more. Lots more.

According to Automotive News, the Japanese automaker will introduce six new EVs over the next five years. Four will wear the Nissan badge, with an additional two upscale models to be sold as Infinitis.

The news was revealed by Nissan’s powertrain chief Toshihiro Hirai. It’s part of a larger plan for the sprawling Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance that will see the group introduce a dozen EVs by 2022. The remaining six, then, will presumably be split between Renault and Mitsubishi, with possible additions to the Dacia and Datsun budget brands.

Making the plan even more ambitious is that those six new Japanese EVs will be fully electric, not hybrids or even plug-in hybrids.

Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi ranks as the world’s largest producer of electric vehicles. In the first quarter of last year, it sold 36,723 EVs, ahead even of Tesla and its 24,950 vehicles sold. The Franco-Japanese auto group offers models like the aforementioned Leaf, as well as the Renault Zoe and Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV.

In addition to the Zoe, Renault also produces the Twizy urban commuter. It also offers electric versions of its Kangoo and Master vans in the European market, and the Renault Samsung SM3 (previously known as the Fluence ZE) in South Korea.

Nissan has plans in place to introduce additional range-extended PHEVs in America particularly. It will also relaunch one of its mainstream models as a purely electric vehicle in the coming years. The jury’s still out on which model will get the electric-only treatment, but the smart money is on a sedan like the Altima or Maxima, or a crossover like the Murano or Pathfinder.