Electric cars can be successful in Gulf countries and other oil-rich states, but only with initial government help, the president and chief executive officer of Nissan Motor Co. (7201.TO) and Renault SA (RNO.FR) said Monday in Abu Dhabi.
Electric cars can be successful in Gulf countries and other oil-rich states, but only with initial government help, the president and chief executive officer of Nissan Motor Co. (7201.TO) and Renault SA (RNO.FR) said Monday in
Abu Dhabi
.
"Yes, I think it can," Carlos Ghosn said when asked if the electric
car could be successful in oil-producing countries, adding that "it will
depend on how much initial support the specific government would give."
The need for initial assistance isn't, however, limited to oil-rich countries,
he said.
"The electric car will be successful in the U.S and in
Japan
and
in
Europe
" because governments "have decided to
support the consumer in order to jumpstart the sales," Ghosn told
reporters in
Abu Dhabi
.
The
U.S.
,
Japan
and
various European countries offer incentives to make low- and zero-emissions
vehicles cheaper for buyers.
Such support is key, he said.
"If the
U.S.
government was saying, 'look, I'm not going to give any incentive for electric
cars,' I don't think we would" launch electric cars there, Ghosn added.
Nissan is due to launch its first electric car, the Leaf, later this year.
The car is to have a range of more than 160 kilometers on a charge, a top speed
of more than 140 kilometers per hour, and will be powered by a lithium battery.
Ghosn said in a previous trip to
Abu Dhabi
in
February that a Nissan electric light commercial vehicle, luxury sedan and a
small "city car" were also in the works, along with four Renault
electric vehicles.
On Monday he said that Nissan and Renault have "no plan" to expand
production capacity in the
Middle East
in
the absence of a free-trade agreement between Arab countries.
Nissan has a factory in
Egypt
, and
a Renault-managed factory is under construction in
Morocco
,
Ghosn said.
"As long as you don't have a free trade or at least an effective free
trade in the
Mideast
, it's going to be very
difficult to go and make an investment of a large capacity if you can't sell in
a seamless way in the Arab countries," he said.
Free trade in the Arab world would be "an incentive for car makers to
establish capacity in the
Mideast
,"
he said.
Ghosn also said 2010 is likely to be a record year in terms of industry-wide
global car sales.
"There is no doubt (about) the fact that 2010 will end up being the
highest year in terms of... total global car sales," he said.
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