http://www.mysanantonio.com/business/stori...ms.ec90593.html Nissan joining hybrid fleet San Antonio Express-News Nissan will be the next automaker to enter the gasoline-electric hybrid vehicle market, with a hybrid version of the popular Altima midsize sedan. It will go on sale in 2006 as a 2007 model, the company said. Presumably, gasoline prices will still be high — although we hope not still rising — when the Altima hybrid goes on sale. In developing the Altima hybrid, Nissan doesn't have to go to the drawing board to design its own hybrid system; the company has contracted with Toyota to be able to use the system that powered the previous-generation Prius, which was introduced in the United States in summer 2000 and in Japan in late 1997.
Rather than build the special hybrid components itself, Nissan will buy them from Toyota. Those components include the transaxle, inverter, battery and control unit I found it really interesting that Toyota is actually manufacturing the Hybrid Components for them. This is even more evidence that Toyota is being successful in leveraging the HSD tech for both cash flow and economies of scale in production. Apparently the licensing fees are 'nominal', so they aren't getting rich just on royalties.
