Ghosn:Renault-Nissan will have capacity for 500,000 EVs/year

[evnow]

http://green.autoblog.com/2010/05/14/ghosn-says-renault-nissan-will-have-capacity-for-500-000-new-evs/

When the Nissan LEAF goes on sale this year - as the first of the eight all-electric models to launch - the Renault-Nissan Alliance will be the first to mass-market affordable zero-emission vehicles, backed by battery capacity of 500,000 units. No other automaker will be producing electric batteries or cars at such a scale.

Why does the capacity matter - why does Nissan keep talking about it ? Here is something I posted about in Tesla forum a while back ...

Nissan is doing a classic "game theory" move. Very good price along with possibility of large production volumes. What this means is that anyone who undercuts Nissan Leaf will have to contend with Nissan further reducing the price and the ability at that lower price point to flood the market because of high production potential. Essentially Nissan's credibility for waging a "price war" is very high.

My guess is few will directly challenge Leaf for many years - there will be EREVs from GM etc, parallel Plugins from Toyota etc. Not sure what Ford will do. Chrysler / Fiat will have the Fiat 500 EV - the smaller EV option (same for Mini-E and Smart-E). Honda will continue to beat the dead hydrogen horse. But no compact BEV challenges.

If what Nissan is threatening - 8 models in next 3 years - is true, they would be owning the EV market for years.

 

[Jimmydreams]

Excellent comments.

I would add the Nissan is making a game-changing move by going 'all in' when it comes to the Leaf. They aren't trying the "let's wean people who don't really need an ICE off of the ICE slowly by making hybrids, then plug ins, THEN all electric" (and thereby make even more money).

Nissan, to me, is saying boldly "THIS is where we should be headed, and we're not afraid to take a giant leap of faith."

I hope they own the EV market for years as a result of their forward thinking.

 

[LEAFfan]

My guess is few will directly challenge Leaf for many years - there will be EREVs from GM etc, parallel Plugins from Toyota etc. Not sure what Ford will do. Chrysler / Fiat will have the Fiat 500 EV - the smaller EV option (same for Mini-E and Smart-E). Honda will continue to beat the dead hydrogen horse. But no compact BEV challenges.

Ford will have the Ford Focus BEV. But I'm pretty sure it is a subcompact and should be even less expensive than the LEAF.

 

[evnow]

Ford will have the Ford Focus BEV. But I'm pretty sure it is a subcompact and should be even less expensive than the LEAF.

Ford is hardly committed to BEV. The whole project was conceived by Magna and Ford has outsourced it.

http://green.autoblog.com/2010/04/18/ford-considers-moving-electric-vehicle-production-in-house-if-de/

Now Magna says they will make their own JV to produce BEVs.

 

[LEAFfan]

Ford will have the Ford Focus BEV. But I'm pretty sure it is a subcompact and should be even less expensive than the LEAF.

Ford is hardly committed to BEV. The whole project was conceived by Magna and Ford has outsourced it.

http://green.autoblog.com/2010/04/18/ford-considers-moving-electric-vehicle-production-in-house-if-de/

Now Magna says they will make their own JV to produce BEVs.

Here's a quote from YOUR link: "Release the Transit Connect and Focus EVs, see how they fare and base future decisions on the real-world successes or failures. Genius!" So it sure likes to me that the Focus is still on for 2011.

 

[evnow]

Here's a quote from YOUR link: "Release the Transit Connect and Focus EVs, see how they fare and base future decisions on the real-world successes or failures. Genius!" So it sure likes to me that the Focus is still on for 2011.

I didn't say people are going to cancel their plans - just that many of them will be marginal players - since they will not commit major investment. BTW, why would you think Ford will price it cheaper than Nissan ?

Carlos Ghosn on the Leaf and EVs: "There is no competition."

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/03/16/carlos-ghosn-on-the-leaf-and-evs-there-is-no-competition/

Frankly, I mean so far there is no competition. Let's be serious. It's not because someone is coming with a prototype and one car that this is competition. The question is how much capacity are you building... What I am sure is that in 2011, I am going to be the only one on the market.

 

[LEAFfan]

Here's a quote from YOUR link: "Release the Transit Connect and Focus EVs, see how they fare and base future decisions on the real-world successes or failures. Genius!" So it sure likes to me that the Focus is still on for 2011.

I didn't say people are going to cancel their plans - just that many of them will be marginal players - since they will not commit major investment. BTW, why would you think Ford will price it cheaper than Nissan ?

Carlos Ghosn on the Leaf and EVs: "There is no competition."

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/03/16/carlos-ghosn-on-the-leaf-and-evs-there-is-no-competition/

Frankly, I mean so far there is no competition. Let's be serious. It's not because someone is coming with a prototype and one car that this is competition. The question is how much capacity are you building... What I am sure is that in 2011, I am going to be the only one on the market.

Mostly because it will be smaller...sub vs. compact. And domestics usually cost less than imports.

 

[AndyH]

Mostly because it will be smaller...sub vs. compact. And domestics usually cost less than imports.

Except that Ford is importing the Transit Connect vans from Turkey with ICE installed and doing the BEV conversion with parts from Azure Dynamics (old Solectria). Not much 'domestic' in the Transit...

 

[evnow]

Mostly because it will be smaller...sub vs. compact. And domestics usually cost less than imports.

Not going to work in new tech - you can't compare to ICE cars at all. Everything depends on the battery price - and unlike Nissan, Ford has no control over it. Moreover, Ford doesn't have the economy of scale.

BTW, when quoting you should remove everything other than what you are responding to. Otherwise the thread becomes difficult to read.