It’s sooner than you think.
Following the showcasing of several cars that run on electricity, gasoline and natural gas at the recently-concluded 2nd Philippine International Motor Show, the Philippine assembler of Nissan cars bared over the weekend that it is targeting a 2012 launch of its own “plug and drive” unit in the Philippines.
“I know this for a fact that Nissan is going to be launching in 2010 an electric vehicle. By 2012, it will be launched worldwide. We’re hoping that the Philippines will be one of the first in the ASEAN to receive those electric vehicles,” said Elizabeth Lee, executive vice-president of Universal Motors Corporation, Nissan’s Philippine assembler.
Lee, who is also president of the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines, Inc. (CAMPI), said that aside from cars powered by electricity, automakers are working overtime to develop models that run on gasoline and electricity or both — the ones called hyrbid models.
“Each manufacturer is actually accelerating the developement and the launch of these types of vehicles because they reduce carbon emissions,” Lee said.
She added that CAMPI members are looking forward to the launch of these types of cars globally in the next few years.
