Nissan, Infiniti To Look To Renault For Sports, Luxury EVs?

By Antony Ingram

Antony Ingram

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Renault Fluence ZE production electric sedan

With Nissan busy working on bringing the 2011 Leaf to the market you think they'd have their hands full with EV development right now.

Despite this, both Nissan and luxury arm Infiniti are looking to expand their electric vehicle program into other corners of the market and may tap into their partner Renault for future sports and luxury EVs.

Renault are busy themselves developing three EVs for the European market to be launched in 2012 - the Twizy city car, the Zoe C-segment model and the Fluence sedan.

The French manufacturer is aiming to be right at the forefront of EV development, so in addition to the planned production cars they've also recently announced a partnership with Smart for their next gasoline and electric ForTwo, and have shown off renderings of the 2010 DeZir Concept, a scissor-doored sports electric sports car.

Nissan and Infiniti are likely to want a piece of this action. Recent rumors suggest that Nissan wants to develop an electric sports car - initial speculation pointed towards an electric version of their 370Z Coupe or even a sports car based on the Leaf platform. Should Renault be serious about turning the DeZir Concept into reality,  this would offer Nissan a further option, given that the two manufacturers share numerous platforms and engines.

2010 Renault DeZir Concept

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The 2010 DeZir Concept is due to be shown at the 2010 Paris Motor Show in September. The two-seater coupe is powered by a 150-horsepower electric motor with 167 pound-feet of torque, and the 24 kilowatt-hour battery should be enough for a 100-mile range, aided by the slippery drag coefficient of only 0.25. The 2010 DeZir weighs in at just 1830 pounds, allowing a 5-second 0-60-mph time despite its modest power.

The motor and batteries are similar to those used in Renault's upcoming production EVs, so if Nissan were to use the platform for a future sports EV, both manufacturers would benefit from favourable economies of scale - cost savings that could be passed down to the customer.

One of the cars using the DeZir's powertrain is the 2011 Fluence ZE family sedan. This will be one of Renault's first EVs to market and the car is thought to be a likely candidate for an Infiniti spin-off.

Larger than the hatchback Nissan Leaf, the elegant Fluence ZE is equipped with a 22 kilowatt-hour battery pack sending power to a 94 horsepower, 166 pound-foot electric motor. As this is less than the 2011 Leaf's 108 horsepower and 200 pound foot, Infiniti would probably want to upgrade the motor to provide performance suitable to their image.

With the production Fluence nearly ready for production and with sales due to start in Israel and Europe in 2011, an Infiniti version could hit the U.S. market as soon as 2012.

[Motor Authority]