James Kon in Chiba City, Japan

Nissan is at the forefront of reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) in vehicles by giving the green light to produce the world’s first mass-produced electric vehicle in the second quarter of 2010.

“The world is eager to address the global CO2 emission and we are proposing solutions to meet the environmental challenges,” the President and CEO of Nissan, Mr Carlos Ghosn said during the launching of the company’s latest zero emission concept vehicle, ‘Land Glider’, at the 41st Tokyo Motor Show in Makuhari Messe, Chiba City, Japan.

Nissan has already taken steps to reduce C02 through the use of more efficient gasoline engines as well as clean diesel, he said, adding that the shortcut to addressing the problem of global emission lies in “mass marketed zero-emission mobility on a global scale”.

By offering environmentally-friendly vehicles at “prices people can afford”, Mr Carlos said that Nissan’s new models would appeal to a wide variety of customers because the purchase price and operating cost of the vehicles will be comparatively “competitive to gasoline vehicles of the same size”.

More importantly, these new vehicles stay true to Nissan’s four values – spacious, safety, comfort and quality, he said.

According to Mr Carlos, Nissan’s new Green car, dubbed the “Leaf”, which is one of the models that the company plans to put on the market next year, is a fun car to drive that ensures “zero emission, zero particle and zero noise”.

“Our technology is real,” he said, adding that Nissan will officially start accepting reservations for the five-seater ‘Leaf’ from 2010 beginning with Japan.

The Green vehicle will be introduced in the US and European market later that year. Mr Carlos is confident that the ‘Leaf’, which can travel more than 160 kilometres on a single charge, will make waves in the automobile industry at the first affordable zero-emission car.

Suzuki is another motoring giant that is investing heavily in “eco performance” vehicles.

At the 41st Tokyo Motor Show, the company unveiled its next-generation vehicles that run on clean energy such as the ‘Fuel Cell Vehicle’, ‘Fuel Cell Scooter’, ‘Fuel Cell Seniorcar’ and ‘Plug-In Hybrid’.

Yamaha, one of the leading motorbike manufacturers in Japan, unveiled its futuristic electric commuter vehicles – EC-F and EF-FS – that are “designed to make motorcycle riding easy for all ages”.

According to media reports, this year’s Tokyo Motor Show was a lonesome affair for the Japanese because many foreign automakers skipped the event for the first time in decades as they cut costs amid the downturn and focus on fast-growing markets like China.

The Japanese have always had a major presence at the Tokyo show, now being staged for the 41st time.

But never before have this nation’s top five automakers and their affiliates so dominated due to the number of foreign companies skipping the event.

The lethargy of the Japanese market, which fell to its lowest level in over three decades last year at 3.21 million vehicles, is another reason overseas automakers and suppliers have stayed away.

Instead, they have focused on events in emerging markets such as the Shanghai Auto Show held in April.

China’s vehicle sales hit 9.66 million units in the first nine months of this year, up 34 per cent, as the country widened its lead over the US as the world’s top auto market.

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