Nissan steadily ramping up hybrid efforts

The Hybrid Synergy Drive powered Altima hybrid

Nissan has been a bit of a laggard when it comes to hybrid cars. Yet, who could really blame this company that almost went under less than 10 years ago, for taking a slow approach? Still, it wasn't that Nissan was anti-hybrid, the company just didn't believe that hybrid technology was yet ready for prime time. Thus, Nissan was willing to borrow some hybrid technology from Toyota for the Altima hybrid until some critical breakthroughs occurred.

Now, however, that critical hybrid technology - next generation batteries - seems to be coming to fruition. Consequently, Nissan has opened a new technology center to develop and test lithium batteries and other experimental technologies. By 2010, the company hopes, this effort will evolve into a new line of hybrid vehicles that Nissan believes will rival hybrids from Toyota and Honda.

And Nissan better succeed, if they want to survive according to Yasuaki Iwamoto, auto analyst with Okasan Securities Co. in Tokyo. "Otherwise, Nissan has no chance of surviving the competition," he said. "Catching up won't be that easy for Nissan. It's not as though Toyota and Honda are going to sit still and do nothing."