By John O'Dell, Senior Editor

The idea of spending less on gas seems to be driving far more people into the green car ranks than the idea that you are doing something good for the planet and those who occupy it.

We can see this pretty clearly in the astonishing growth of small car sales in the U.S. – hardly anyone was buying them a few years ago and last month they accounted for a record 22.6 percent of the new car market, according to Edmunds.com's market analysts.

Meantime, large trucks' market share plunged to just 11 percent, down from a high three years ago of 19 percent.

Small used to mean cheap. Now it means fuel efficient (although not all small cars are particularly miserly with gas). And as compacts and subcompacts continue to capture market share, look for automakers to start piling high-margin luxury goodies into their small cars as they seek ways to replace the profits they used to book from truck sales.

Hybrids Rising Too

We can also see concern about fuel prices in the steady rise of hybrid sales – they accounted for a record 3.2 percent of the market in April, with Toyota's Prius the month's 10th best-selling model of any type.

That hybrids are increasing their market penetration even though they cost more than comparably equipped conventional versions of the same models (except the Toyota Prius, which has no conventional counterpart) is testimony to people's desire to pare their fuel bills.

Just a year or so ago, the Prius was the only hybrid with a reasonable chance of providing sufficient fuel savings to pay back the so-called hybrid premium – the price a hybrid purchaser pays to get a car or SUV with two powertrains and enough complex electronics to make a NASA engineer jealous.

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French automotive executive Carlos Ghosn told reporters attending a product review in Portugal today that automakers Renault and Nissan are talking with a Gulf region country abut participating in a bold electric car project that already has been adopted by Israel.

"We are negotiating to launch an electric car with a Gulf state," Ghosn told a news conference in the coastal resort of Cascais, near Lisbon.

Renault and Nissan, which have operated as an alliance since the French company took control of the Japanese automaker in 1999, plan to put an electric-powered car on the road by 2010.

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Nissan Micra convertible is example of fuel-efficient cars we can't get in the U.S.

By John O'Dell, Senior Editor

I'm in an airplane winging its way to Los Angeles from Amsterdam (by way of Lisbon, Portugal) as this is being posted – returning from a two-day event called Nissan 360.

It was designed to give journalists the opportunity to drive all of the company's motor vehicles (a 360-degree view, get it?), from the same Altimas and Maximas and Titans and Zs sold in the U.S. to passenger vehicles and even light commercial vehicles that we never see here -- the Micra and Cube small cars and  Elgrande maxi-van, for instance, and the Atleon 15-ton delivery van.

Nissan's GT-R on track at Estoril, Portugal, delivers world-class power.

We also got to drive the rather fantastic GT-R on the track at the Estoril Autodrome outside of Lisbon – two laps as a passenger and three behind the wheel. But my colleagues at Inside Line have far better credentials than I do to tell you about that insanely powerful but incredibly well-mannered speed machine, and I'll leave that task to them. Suffice it to say that no one who enjoys automobiles should ever say no to the opportunity to drive a GT-R at speed.

The gist of what I am carrying away from the event is that Nissan's motors, gas and diesel remain some of the best in the business. Its interiors are improving tremendously and in some cases are world class, and  its designs are – well, very Japanese and subject to a lot of interpretation. I loved a few, hated others and was ambivalent about many.

I didn't drive all 61 vehicles available to us – regardless of the hype from Nissan in the invitation, two days is not sufficient time to do that.

I tried instead to experience cars (and trucks -- that big Atleon is a gas to maneuver – and it has a better interior than many passenger cars) that we don't get a chance to drive in the U.S.

My favorite? The Micra, gas and diesel.

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By John O'Dell, Senior Editor

CASCAIS, Portugal – Nissan Motor Co. which has promised to introduce an electric vehicle in North American in 2010, now sees enough market potential for battery-powered electric cars that it is planning a second model for as early as 2012.

The Japanese carmaker was late to the game with gas-electric hybrids and doesn't intend to get caught with a bare product portfolio as cheaper and more reliable batteries make EVs an economic and practical choice in coming years, product planning chief Tom Lane told Green Car Advisor in an interview at Nissan's global vehicle show-and-drive program in this coastal resort town just west of Lisbon.

Lane said that while Nissan began its green planning half a decade ago with a broad slate of possible technologies, economic and scientific changes have pushed battery-electric vehicles to the forefront as a near- and midterm market strategies to meet increased political and social demand for cleaner, more efficient vehicles.

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Could fuel-slurping Nissan Titan's appetite shrink as a Chrysler-built truck?

By John O'Dell, Senior Editor

It wasn't long ago that most auto industry consultants – and auto industry insiders, at least those in the truck departments --  were poo-pooing the idea that rising gas prices and oil shortage concerns would bring big hurt to the full-size pickup market.

But sales of those trucks are off by 12.5%, and the first casualty has just been announced as Nissan Motor Corp. said Monday it can no longer justify building its slow-selling Titan pickup – a truck launched in 2003 with hopes of making Nissan a significant player in what some company insiders cheerily referred to as the BFT market ("B" for Big and "T" for Truck and you can fill in the rest).

The Titan isn't leaving the market – at least not yet – but it is leaving the billion-dollar assembly plant Nissan built in Canton, Miss., to handle its new big trucks.

Under a deal announced Monday, Chrysler – whose Dodge Ram proves its mettle in the big truck segment -- will build the next-generation Ttitan for Nissan at a plant in Saltillo, Mexico.

In return, Nissan – which does small cars a lot better than Chrysler – will supply a new small passenger car that its new "partner" will sell in the U.S., probably under the Chrysler brand.

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By Nick Kurczewski, Contributor

MONTE CARLO, Monaco -- Kazuhiro Doi laughs when we ask why Nissan chose to give its electric-powered concept car, the Mixim, such a strong performance streak.

"If a customer wants a slow electric vehicle, we can provide that," Doi says, chuckling. "But I don’t think he will."

As Nissan's general manager and technology chief, Doi has the inside line on the Japanese company’s work in everything from electric vehicles, to hybrids and highly advanced safety features – it was under his direction that Nissan developed a car capable of detecting when a driver is too drunk to drive.

One of Doi's latest projects is the Nissan Mixim, a futuristic wedge-shaped hatchback of diminutive proportions – at just 145 inches in length it's the same size as the Mini Cooper.

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EVs from Monaco's own Venturi will be on display at annual eco-car event .

By Nick Kurczewski, Contributor
 
MONTE CARLO, Monaco – A convention hall filled with electric, hydrogen, biofuel and hybrid-powered vehicles is a strange site in any town, much less the world’s most famous principality and one of James Bond’s favorite holiday hideaways.

A haven for the rich and powerful -- where champagne glasses are never empty, every parking lot is overflowing with Ferraris and Aston Martins and Formula 1 takes over the town once a year -- Monte Carlo is the most unlikely setting in which to find a show dedicated to green-car technology.

The EVER Monaco ecological car show, here from Thursday through Sunday, is dedicated to all forms of transport powered by fuels offering environmental benefits. Now in its third year, the annual Ecological Vehicles and Renewable Energies (EVER) exhibition is a showcase for vehicles powered by alternative fuels or technology.

We’ll be attending the show, and making our way through the Grimaldi Forum to see what progress is being made and what technology looks promising – not to mention what looks far-fetched and totally unfeasible.

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By Robert E. Calem, Contributor

New York -- Nissan Motor Co. unveiled its non-working "Denki Cube" electric vehicle concept Wednesday at the New York auto show, but cautioned that there are no plans to produce commercial version of the show car – a battery-powered version of the small and boxy gasoline-fueled Cube the company currently sells in Japan.

The automaker does plan to begin selling an all-new gasoline-powered Cube in the U.S. beginning next year, and to start supplying a fully electric vehicle to commercial and government fleets in 2010, with sales to consumers to follow in 2012.

But that Cube isn't going to provide the platform for the EV, said Larry Dominique, vice president of product planning at Nissan North America in Nashville, Tennessee.

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The Nissan Cube EV concept makes it debut at the New York Auto Show press preview Wednesday, and photos were supposed to be kept under wraps until then.

The Cube concept showcases Nissan's battery-electric technology and may provide a good hint as to what the company's production electric vehicle will look like when it hits the market in 2010.



Despite the embargo, a handful of photos popped up on a Nissan fan website this morning, and as long as they're out there, we thought we'd share a couple with you.

Nissan is calling the concept the Denki Cube,  which translates -- roughly -- as Electric Cube.



Most of the modifications are cosmetic, although there's a new instrument panel and, of course, a different propulsion system.

John O'Dell, Senior Editor

Nissan's Cube could be platform for the company's electric car.

The electric car that Nissan is preparing for the U.S. will make its first appearance as a concept car at the New York auto show next week.

Nissan, which has been testing lithium-ion batteries in its boxy subcompact Cube in Japan, has prepped a version for the U.S. to help gauge interest -- in the drivetrain and the design.

Insiders say the company hasn't officially decided whether to use the Cube for its U.S. electric car and that  the "concept" for the NY show is more about showcasing the electric drive than the vehicle that will use it. But the concept Cube, with a few exterior changes and a modestly tweaked interior, is being touted as a show car that hints at the future.

Add to that the fact that Nissan's EV is likely to have a range of  just 100 miles before its batteries need an 8-hour recharge and a small car-van-wagon like the Cube makes a lot more sense than an Altima.