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V-Vehicle and Nissan join the race to launch a green car in the US

A new San Diego based start-up V-Vehicle has announced plans to launch a small, environmentally friendly, fuel-efficient car onto the US market next year.

V-Vehicle launched itself from nowhere into the US car market late last week when it unveiled plans for a manufacturing and assembly plant in Louisiana, which will employ 1400. The company will receive $67 million in state incentives to develop the site, which was a former General Motors facility.

The start-up, which is also applying for federal funds from the Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Loan Program and the Department of Energy, is being backed by venture capital firm Kleiner, Perkins Caufield & Byers and energy investor T. Boone Pickens.

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal said the move represents a “quick, aggressive action” that could “re-energize the entire US auto industry”.

Not much is known about the actual car itself, other than it will be designed by Tom Matano, who is responsible for the Mazda Miata.
Meanwhile, reports in Reuters and the Nikkei business daily say Nissan plans to start production of electric vehicles at the company’s headquarters in Smyrna, Tennessee.

The company is planning to invest 50 billion yen ($516 million), which could rise to 100 billion yen, in new assembly lines capable of producing 50,000-100,000 vehicles a year by 2012.

A production facility for the lithium-ion batteries that will be used to power the electric vehicles is also planned for the Smyrna site jointly with NEC Corp.

For further information:
www.v-vehicle.com/
www.ledlouisiana.com/
www.nissan-global.com/EN/index.html

22 June 2009

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