Nissan expects to sell 1M electrified cars per year by 2022

NISSAN predicts it’ll boost its electrified car sales to one million units annually by 2022.

The proclamation came on Friday in Japan during a briefing with reporters, and was part of a larger discussion around the manufacturer’s investment in electric vehicles.

Nissan is the second-biggest car manufacturer in Japan, and as part of its alliance with Renault and Mitsubishi is part of the largest vehicle manufacturing group in the world.

In the announcement, Nissan also confirmed it would moving away from plug-in hybrids, instead focussing on all-electric and combustion-hybrid EVs, forgoing hydrogen fuel cell vehicles completely.

“The heart of our strategy in terms of electrification is battery EVs and e-Power technology,” Nissan Chief Planning Officer Philippe Klein told reporters at a briefing.

Nissan hopes to expand its EV family, with plans to develop eight fully-electric vehicles over the next five years – this includes four models specifically for China, the biggest and fastest growing market globally for electric vehicles.

Infiniti, Nissan’s luxury arm, will also sell a new electric model by 2021, according to reports.

China is central to Nissan’s ambitions, with the company spending 1 trillion yen (A$12.3 billion) over five years in the country in an effort to bring in new customers.

“Our strong China offensive will start this year, led by a Nissan EV in the C-segment, deriving from the Leaf technology, with a body type adapted to the Chinese customers’ taste,” Klein added.

Klein revealed two of those models will be launched in China under the Venucia brand.

Nissan is the largest Japanese car manufacturer in China, and plans to introduce 20 electrified models to the market by 2022. It hopes electrified cars will account for 30 percent of all Nissan sales in China by 2022, while by 2025 all Infiniti models sold in the country will be electrified. An electric ultra-compact kei car is also planned for Japan.

Globally, an electric crossover inspired by the Nissan IMx Concept car is planned to join the Leaf as a dedicated electric model, while the company also announced at the recent Geneva Auto Show that it will introduces electrified versions of the Qashqai and X-Trail SUVs.

In 2017, Nissan sold 163,000 electric vehicles globally, with the first-generation Leaf selling around 300,000 units in its lifetime since launching in 2010.

EV market share grew by 58 percent globally in 2017 from 0.83 percent to 1.28 percent according to monitoring site ev-volumes.com

The second-generation Leaf was revealed last year, and will go on sale globally throughout 2018.

Nissan also stated its intentions to have its ProPilot autonomous driving technology in 20 models in 20 markets by 2022.

Meanwhile, BMW also flagged its electric ambitions over the weekend at its Annual Accounts Press Conference 2018

“Our future is definitely electric. With our electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid models, we are already the clear number one in Europe,” claimed Harald Krüger, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG

“I have set clear goals for sustainable mobility: More than 140,000 electrified vehicles sold this year. A total of half a million electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids on the roads by the end of 2019. 25 electrified models, 12 of them pure electric, by 2025.”