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Nissan drive to build green cars in Europe
23.06.09
Nissan Motor, whose British home is in Sunderland, is looking at where to construct a new plant in Europe to produce its planned electric cars.
Chief executive Carlos Ghosn said the decision all depended on where it based a plant to make the batteries.
Workers in Sunderland will obviously be hoping the new car can be built in their area, but a battery factory would be bound to cause a row with environmentalists in the UK because of worries about the potential harmful chemicals used in their production.
Ghosn has high hopes for Nissan's green cars. In a briefing today, he said he expected the car giant would initially be making 100,000 electric vehicles in the US.
It has selected a site in Tennessee to make them and the batteries.
Carmakers have been racing to build greener cars following the success of Toyota's electric-petrol Prius hybrid.
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