Nissan Aims to Sell 1 M. Motor-Driven Vehicles by FY 2020

Tokyo, March 23 (Jiji Press)--Nissan Motor Co. <7201> said Friday that it targets annual sales of one million vehicles driven by electric motors, including hybrids, by fiscal 2022. The target, which is six times the current sales of such vehicles, was included in the Japanese automaker's midterm business plan. According to the plan, Nissan will launch eight electric models, including a sport-utility vehicle for the Japanese, European and U.S. markets and a minivehicle for the domestic market. In China, where the government is promoting electric vehicles, the company will release four models. Nissan also laid out the goal of getting all models to be put in major markers, also including India, by fiscal 2022 connected with the Internet all the time. It also aims to expand the lineup of vehicles with self-driving technologies. Nissan had planned to announce the business plan in autumn last year, but put off doing so due to a vehicle inspection scandal that came to light in September last year. Meanwhile, Philippe Klein, chief planning officer of the company, told a press conference in Yokohama the same day that Nissan has no intention of halting its public road tests of self-driving vehicles. Klein was responding to a recent fatal accident during an autonomous driving test conducted by U.S. ride-hailing service Uber Technologies Inc. in Arizona. Toyota Motor Co. <7203> has already said it will suspended similar tests in the United States for the time being. END