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Nissan launches first clean-diesel
car
From AFP:
Nissan Motor Corp. launched on Thursday its
first clean-running diesel vehicle in Japan in
a bid to open up a new market by rebranding the fuel as
eco-friendly.
The X-Trail 20 GT sports-utility vehicle with an M9R
engine offers powerful acceleration while complying with
some of the world’s strictest emissions standards that
will come into effect across Japan in October
2009.
The car increases fuel economy by 30 percent over a
2.5-litre gasoline engine and cuts
carbon-dioxide emissions by 20 percent, Japan’s
third largest automaker said.
It is the first diesel car in Japan in years for Nissan,
which has been less enthusiastic than its domestic
rivals in developing eco-friendly hybrid cars.
Japanese consumers have long snubbed diesel-powered
vehicles due to the perception that they are smelly,
noisy and sooty.
While diesel accounts for approximately 60% of vehicle
sales in Europe, the figure is in the single digits in
the United States and Japan.
“From now on we will build the image of diesel in Japan
and aim to expand our sales by communicating the diesel
engine’s appeal one by one to customers,” Nissan’s chief
operating officer Toshiyuki Shiga said at a news
conference.
“We need to transform each customer’s perception and
idea into something positive,” he said.
The launch is a test-case for the company, which targets
annual sales of 1,200 units “to see what the market
response will be, and whether it will catch on,” said
another Nissan official on the sidelines of the event.
With a price tag of nearly 3 million yen ($27,700)
including consumption tax, it costs nearly 20 percent
more than a comparable vehicle with a traditional
engine, the company said.
But the price gap can be offset in fuel savings by
driving an average of 10,000 kilometres (6,200 miles)
annually for three years.
If a hit among the public, Nissan will start developing
a line-up using the technology. It also plans to
introduce the technology in its models in North America
and China by 2010.
Nissan said it hoped the diesel vehicle would attract
customers during a tough stretch for the car industry,
which is faced with high fuel costs and a sagging world
economy.
“The auto industry is feeling a lot of different
headwinds at the moment but making high-quality and
attractive cars to get over this difficult period is our
biggest project,” Shiga said. |
