LexFather

Hans Greimel
Automotive News
August 11, 2008 - 12:01 am ET


YOKOSUKA, Japan — Nissan's first in-house hybrid will arrive in 2010 with an Infiniti badge, but its project manager concedes that he has many kinks to iron out.

During a prototype test drive for journalists last week, the hybrid car suffered awkward lags when the engine kicked in to help the electric motor. Deceleration also was jerky because of battery regeneration.

"We still have a few issues with this development vehicle," says Tatsuo Abe, manager of Nissan's hybrid engineering unit. "We need to make some adjustments before 2010."

Nissan Motor Co. is pinning its hopes on the new hybrid system to help it catch Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. in the green-car race. To date, Nissan's only hybrid is a version of the Altima car equipped with a Toyota-developed system.

Performance hybrid
Nissan's first in-house hybrid debuts as an Infiniti in 2010.
The car has
-- Rear-wheel drive
-- V-6 engine
-- 110-lb. lithium ion battery
-- 3-mile range in electric-only mode



Performance hybrid

Nissan's own hybrid technology will debut in an Infiniti, but it is too soon to say what model, says Atsushi Shizuta, vice president for product development. It won't be a stand-alone hybrid like the Toyota Prius but, instead, will be a hybrid version of a regular nameplate.

It wasn't clear whether the hybrid might be part of a new nameplate. The test version was an Infiniti G35.

Nissan's pursuit of big-car hybrids charts a different course from its Japanese rivals, which have enjoyed hybrid success mostly in such small cars as the Prius and Honda Civic.

Honda pitched the performance of its Accord Hybrid sedan but dumped the model at the end of the 2007 model year after lackluster sales. Honda is now planning a hybrid Fit small car, which should achieve excellent fuel economy.

Nissan makes no apologies for its first entry being a V-6, rear-drive luxury sedan.

"Toyota is the current leader, and one of our intentions is to approach hybrids from a different angle," Shizuta said. "This is as much about power assist as it is about fuel economy."

Nissan's electric motor is powered by a lithium ion battery, which weighs less and has more power than the nickel-metal hydride batteries used in the current generation of hybrids.

Nissan's lithium ion battery weighs 50 kilograms (110 pounds) and can power the car for up to 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) in electric-only mode after a full charge. By contrast, Toyota and Honda are sticking with nickel-metal hydride batteries for their next-generation hybrids due next year.

Nissan's r&d chief, Mitsuhiko Yama****a, says the automaker's hybrid gets 40 percent better mileage than its nonhybrid counterpart. He wants to keep the price difference under $5,000.

Not hybrid-only

Nissan is also bucking the trend by making the 2010 offering a hybrid version of an existing model, instead of a hybrid-only car.

Honda and Toyota are both convinced of the image value in selling hybrids that have distinct "green car" looks, like the Prius. Both will unveil new hybrid-only models next year.

Abe acknowledged that customer acceptance is increasing for hybrids that look like hybrids but would only say Nissan is studying the idea.

LexFather

3 things
1. Kudos to NIssan for putting the effort in
2. They are full of marketing crap b/c this effort is no different from what Lexus has ALREADY done in regards to performance hybrids.
3. It really should hit home that the Lexus hybrids are the most technological advanced cars around, they really are incredible pieces of engineering.

speedflex

Why do you say this? Unless they have said it somewhere else there's nothing in the above where they claim to have pioneered performance hybrids. In fact, they concede leadership to Toyota and admit they have bugs to address in their own system. Toyota didn't invent the technology, they are simply among the most advanced at this stage. Of course others will pursue the same goal using parallel methods.

Maybe I missed the marketing crap.

pbm317

I believe SickGoat is referring to this line:
""Toyota is the current leader, and one of our intentions is to approach hybrids from a different angle," Shizuta said. "This is as much about power assist as it is about fuel economy.""

Which, as he points out, Lexus is already doing

speedflex

I don't see that as marketing hype. It's just the approach they're taking and it's the very problem they're trying to work out as indicated in the article.

Instead of premiering the system in a Versa or dedicated hybrid like the Prius with fuel economy being the top priority they're focusing on performance and fuel economy in concert. As stated Lexus has gotten there first but I still don't see how this is trying to take anything away from Toyota.

spwolf

just shows how big advantage Toyota has

ffpowerLN

iTrader: (1)

By saying that they are taking a "different approach" Nissan made it sound like they are the first and Toyota hasn't been doing that yet. However, as we all know, that's not the case.

Toyota's traditional hybrids (to assist fuel economy):

Prius
Camry Hybrid
Highlander Hybrid
RX400h

Toyota's performance hybrids (to assist performance and maybe a bit of FE):

GS450h
LS600hL

nthach

Honda did that too with the Accord Hybrid, but it gotten just barely better mileage than an Accord V6.

ST430

Hmmm ~3700lbs for a G37 sedan (based on G37 Coupe numbers). 110lb li - ion battery...so ~3% weight addition, figure about 5% for the whole hybrid system. So in essence, the whole setup will have to about 350hp just to recoupe it's supplemental weight. In order for it to be "performance" oriented hybrid, another 50hp will be needed to be actually effective. Then you'd be looking at a 400hp / ~3900lb porker of a "sports" sedan.

Just doesn't make any sense....

SLegacy99

Nah, I think the RX400h is also a performance hybrid. Note that its quite a bit quicker than its non hybrid counterpart and also the Highlander hybrid. Thus it uses more fuel than the Highlander hybrid.


40% that sounds pretty good. Especially since the G37 is pretty weak in the fuel economy department.

LexFather

Exactly. FWIW, the hybrid GS 450h is as fast or faster than all INfiniti's and its the 2nd fastest Lexus according to Lexus behind the IS-F.

Hartawan

iTrader: (1)

Isnt it IS-F, IS 350, then GS450h

Faymester

i also read it that way ... nissan is big in the marketing so you can be sure there will be more along this line when tv/magazine adds start coming out for it

LexFather

According too Magazines its that way. According to Lexus IS-F, GS 450h, then IS 350.

I8ABMR

I have a family member that works for nissan corporate. They said that because, like gm,nissan delayed in getting into the hybrid game, toyota will be on its third gen hybrid technology and nissan is buying toyotas first gen technology. Sucks, but they will catch up