Nissan Motor Co Ltd will keep the price of its upcoming battery-powered Leaf competitive with similar-sized cars and expects to make money on the vehicle despite the cost of its launch, Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn on Friday.
The five-passenger hatchback, which is being designed to have an all-electric range of 100 miles (160 km), would cost only 1 to 2 percent more than traditional combustion engine vehicles in its class, he said.
"On the pricing of the vehicle it is too early to say, but there will be no surprise," Ghosn said. "We know it will be the key to the mass market."
Nissan has not disclosed pricing on the Leaf, but has said it expects the car to be the first affordable, mass-market electric car when it goes on sale in the United States, Japan and Europe by the end of 2010.
Nissan has bet heavily on electric cars and expects that by 2020, 10 percent of the world car market will be for electric vehicles. It has announced a series of partnerships with utilities and government agencies to advance technology where it believes it has a chance of seizing market leadership.
The automaker said on Friday that it would cooperate with Houston-based Reliant Energy, a subsidiary of NRG Energy Inc (NRG.N) in developing a charging infrastructure for electric cars at homes and near office buildings.
Ghosn, who was speaking to reporters at an event outside Dodger Stadium to kick off a U.S. marketing tour for the Leaf, said Nissan would roll out the car slowly in the U.S. market to get more feedback from consumers.
The Leaf is designed to draw power from a battery-pack developed with Japan's NEC Corp (6701.T) that Nissan has said can be recharged overnight on a 220-volt connection.
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