Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Nissan Planning to Revive Nissan 200SX Sports Car with a Hybrid Engine

Japanese car maker Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. (TYO:7201) is contemplating seriously to bring back its Nissan 200SX sports car, which was stopped in 2003. Nissan 200SX is widely known as Silvia, which could get a revival in future as a hybrid car equipped with a hybrid engine. Because of high price hike in fuel in the world market, Nissan is planning to re-introduce Nissan 200SX as a petrol-electric two-door sports car, which also makes it an environment friendly car.

Stuff reported:

An electric motor would effectively replace the turbo that characterised the sports-oriented 200SX, boosting power and performance while saving fuel.

"People are more sensitive to fuel efficiency [these days]," says Junichi Endo, Nissan's senior vice president of global marketing.

"A front-engine, rear-drive may appeal still ... but it's important it is still fun to drive. Ideally we would try to hit both fuel economy and driving pleasure."

However, Nissan bosses are not yet confirmed whether people would accept a sports car with a hybrid engine, replacing a turbocharged engine. They see a 50-50 chance here. The production of Nissan 200SX was stopped due to its failure to meet the emission regulations. The company thinks, cars like Nissan 200SX sports car could be pure electric vehicle as investment coming heavily in making environmentally friendly cars. There are few other car makers who are also working on introducing hybrid sports cars. Honda said that it would bring back its CRX model as hybrid-powered CR-Z. Now, let us see if Nissan really takes up the project of reviving Nissan 200SX sports car with a hybrid engine.

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