Japanese workers assemble Nissan vehicles at a factory in Yokosuka. Nissan has said it aims to develop its own hybrid and other 'green' cars as part of a push to catch up with rivals such as Toyota and Honda in energy-saving motoring.[File Photo: AFP]

Japan's Nissan Motor Co. has said it aims to develop its own hybrid and other 'green' cars as part of a push to catch up with rivals such as Toyota and Honda in energy-saving motoring.

The plan marks a shift in strategy for Japan's second-largest automaker which has so far been skeptical about the merits of gas-electric hybrids.

Under a five-year "green program", Nissan, which is owned 44 percent by France's Renault, said it also aims to introduce a vehicle running entirely on bio-ethanol fuel for the Brazilian market by 2009.

It plans to work on the development of a car that will travel 100 kilometers (62 miles) on just three liters of gasoline to launch in Japan by 2010 with carbon dioxide emissions comparable to a gas-electric hybrid.

Another goal is to introduce a next-generation fuel cell vehicle as well as an electric vehicle during the early part of the next decade.

The dream of an electric car, which has been around since the time of Thomas Edison, has so far failed to break into the mainstream because of limited battery life that makes such vehicles impractical for most purposes.

Japanese automakers, particularly Toyota, are struggling to keep pace with demand for their hybrids, particularly in the United States where interest in fuel-guzzling jeeps has been hit by soaring gasoline prices.

However, Nissan has been slower to embrace hybrids, which are equipped with an electric motor and a standard petrol engine, making them much more economical and environment-friendly than conventional autos.

Nissan chief executive Carlos Ghosn told reporters last year that there was such a buzz surrounding hybrids that no chief of the top manufacturers "dare say his real opinion" about the technology.

Nissan currently has no gas-electric hybrid on the market. It is due to launch a hybrid version of its Altima sedan in the US market next year using technology developed by the world's number two automaker, Toyota Motor Corp.

Now Nissan also plans to develop one using its own technologies and also accelerate the development of plug-in hybrid technology that can use grid power to recharge batteries in addition to the onboard charging system.

"We do not deny that from the marketing stand point, at the present point of time the customers' needs and values could not be met with what we have," chief operating office Toshiyuki Shiga told a press conference.

"We are developing something that meets the customers' needs," he added.

Nissan said that vehicles using electric motors would become increasingly important and ultimately could replace internal combustion engines.

But for now it expects the internal combustion engine to remain the primary power source for vehicles "for the foreseeable future".

Nissan, which suffered a 15 percent drop in operating profits in the first half to September amid a lack of new models, said it also aimed to cut carbon dioxide emissions from its plants by seven percent by 2010 from 2005 levels.

The Japanese company's green push comes less than two weeks after struggling US giant General Motors said it would accelerate plans to bring electric-powered cars and a so-called plug-in hybrid to the US market.