Shanghai, November 30 (Gasgoo.com) Nissan Motor and its Chinese partner Dongfeng Motor Corp have signed an agreement with the Guangzhou city government to set up a plant in the southern Chinese city for making electric cars, and Nissan's zero-emission car Leaf may be build there for the Chinese market, media reported.
Under the deal, Nissan will cooperate with Guangzhou city to promote zero-emission cars like the Nissan Leaf. The Japanese automaker has agreed to study the possibility of producing the Leaf in Guangzhou. This electric-car program is part of Nissan's strategy to speed up the use of all-electric cars worldwide.
Nissan will begin selling the first Leaf cars in the United States and Japan in the second half of 2010, to add more models in rapid succession. In 2011, Dongfeng Nissan will import the Leaf cars to China for sale, and the joint venture will likely produce the Leaf model for the Chinese market.
"Based on our agreement with Nissan, we're going to try to help electric-vehicle technology go mainstream and help Nissan mass-produce electric cars," said Guangzhou mayor Zhang Guangning last week. Nissan is expected to provide Leaf electric cars to government agencies.
Nissan's agreement with Guangzhou, a major industrial city in southern China with a population of about 10 million, follows a similar accord it signed in April with the city of Wuhan in central China.
Nissan's Leaf will have a cruising range of 160km (100 miles) and a top speed of over 140 km/h on a single battery charge. It is slated to start mass-production for global sale by 2012.
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