Nissan's first native hybrid models will wear Infiniti badges. That's the news from Nissan Senior Vice President Powertrain, Yo Usuba, this week at Nissan 360 in Portugal.
Nissan currently markets a sole hybrid model in the US market, the midsized Altima. What's not widely known, however, is the fact Altima uses front-wheel drive Toyota hybrid componentry. Drawn from the US market Camry hybrid, essentially the powertrain's only major Nissan component is the 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine.
This will change when Nissan debuts its own hybrid system, says Usaba-san who heads up powertrain engineering for the car giant. Slated for release in 2010, Nissan's inline hybrid system will be fitted to a range of rear-wheel drive Infiniti models, Usuba revealed.
"In most cases hybrid drivetrain is fitted to one model," Usuba san told the Carsales network. "For economical reasons we will fit our system to a number of Infiniti models built on the FR/FM platform," he said.
Nissan's FR (or FR-L) platform signifies Front-engine Rear-drive Large. In conjunction with the company's FM (front mid-ship) package, it underpins models such as the Infiniti G coupe and sedan (Skyline in Japan) and even the 350Z. Infiniti's EX and FX crossovers (pictured) also use the platform
Usuba would not say specifically which Infiniti models would feature hybrid drivetrains, however, it is safe to assume both sedan and crossover models will be so-equipped.
The hybrid system will be an inline system similar in concept to the dual-mode hybrid technology currently under joint development by GM, BMW and Mercedes-Benz. Rather than use an "electronic CVT" like Toyota, Usuba-san said the systems would feature a conventional automatic transmission -- most likely a seven-speeder the carmaker already has slated for release in the FX50 performance crossover.
The engineering boss said Nissan's hybrid development continues to centre on petrol base powertrains, although he also said the company was also working on smaller diesel hybrids in partnership with Renault. He opined hybrid powertrains better suited US and Asian markets and diesels typically were favoured in Europe.
The strong 'step-off' acceleration and the propensity to favour automatic transmissions predisposed US especially consumers to favour hybrids, he said.
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