Nissan Halts Investments in New ICEs, Goes All-In on EVs

Bucking the trend set by its compatriots, Nissan goes all-in on EVs by halting investments in new combustion engines.

Japanese automakers are the most reluctant bunch in the adoption of electromobility, with several of them vowing to keep the ICE alive as long as they can, as indicated by the recent joint-partnership announcement between three major marques – Toyota, Mazda, and Subaru.

However, Nissan has stood out amongst them by taking a more radical approach to its electromobility adoption, so much so that the Yokohama-based marque has decided to stop investing in new ICE technologies.

Nissan CPO for the AMIEO region Francois Bailly (left)

Speaking to Drive Australia, Nissan’s chief planning officer for the Africa, Middle East, India, Europe, and Oceania (AMIEO) region, Francois Bailly, revealed that the automaker has no plans to develop a new ICE powertrain, shifting its focus entirely to EVs for the future.

"Our future is EV. We're not investing in a new powertrain for ICE, that's for sure," the boss told Drive.

Nissan's proprietary e-Power hybrid system

While going all-in on EVs, Bailly added that its proprietary e-Power hybrid system will help with the transition from ICE-based products to full electric. Unlike many other series-parallel hybrids out there, Nissan’s e-Power technology harnesses a combustion engine that does not drive the car’s wheels. Instead, it acts solely as a generator to charge the battery, which in turn juices up the electric motor setup for a cleaner, more efficient drive.

Furthermore, Nissan is also planning to work further on its e-Power technology by improving the thermal efficiency of the ICE generator by 50%. Although it has yet to be implemented on production hybrid vehicles, early prototypes have managed to achieve the aforementioned thermal efficiency target during several tests back in 2021.

ICE-powered Nissan models like the Almera sedan would still be on sale in markets with lax emission regulations like Malaysia.

Besides the e-Power hybrid transitional technology, Bailly further added that, despite its all-in commitment to EVs, this doesn’t mean that Nissan will stop selling new ICE-powered models indefinitely. The Nissan exec pointed out that emission regulations are still relaxed in some parts of the world, prompting the automaker to align its model portfolio to regional requirements rather than ditching its ICE products entirely.

C28-gen Nissan Serena e-Power (left) & second-gen Nissan Kicks (right)

As part of the ICE-EV transitions, Nissan has been offering its newer model with the e-Power hybrid variant, including the new Serena MPV, the recently-facelifted Qashqai SUV, as well as the new, second-gen Kicks crossover. Besides HEVs, Nissan has also planned to introduce plug-in hybrid (PHEV) tech to some of its models, with the next-gen Navara pick-up truck slated to get them first.

Nissan Z Nismo (left) & Nissan GT-R (right)

As for the future of its pure combustion performance models like the Z and GT-R, it remains to be seen whether these two ‘halo’ sportscars will ever get partial electrification for their future or go straight to the guillotine amidst the electromobility push. However, the GT-R has been long rumoured to get an electrified successor, possibly based on the Hyper Force concept unveiled at last year’s Japan Mobility Show (JMS 2023).