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| Photo Credit: AP. |
TOKYO (AP) — Nissan will more aggressively push electric vehicles to take advantage of a new U.S. law that gives up to $7,500 in tax credits, the Japanese automaker said Friday.
President
Joe Biden signed the landmark climate change and health care bill into law last
month. The tax credit can be used to defray the cost of purchasing an electric
vehicle that’s made in the U.S.
The Nissan
Leaf electric car is among the models that qualifies, but, under the law, the
vehicles must contain a battery built in North America with minerals mined or
recycled on the continent to be eligible.
Chief
Sustainability Officer Joji Tagawa acknowledged the qualification process was
complex, while stressing Nissan was eager to take advantage of the law to
alleviate costs to the customer.
“We are in
the process of making a thorough analysis at the moment,” he told reporters in
an online briefing, noting details of what Nissan might do were still
undecided.
Tesla
models, as well as the Ford F Series electric pickup, BMW X5 and the Jeep
Wrangler plug-in hybrid are among the models that will be able to qualify for
the tax credits.
Nissan Motor
Co., allied with French automaker Renault, was among the first to bank on
zero-emission all-electric vehicles with the Leaf, which went on sale in 2010.
More than 600,000 Leaf electric cars have been sold worldwide so far.
Major
automakers around the world have recently announced investments to speed up the
move toward electric vehicles, as worries grow about climate change and gas
prices.
Nissan said
it’s trying to make its operations and products cleaner, safer and more
inclusive, examining sourcing, production and sales, as well as its lineup. The
company, based in Yokohama, Japan, will work with alliance partners and
governments to achieve those goals, Tagawa said.
Nissan’s
brand image was tarnished when Carlos Ghosn, a star executive for two decades
at Nissan, was arrested in Japan 2018 on charges of underreporting his
compensation and misusing company money. Ghosn jumped bail in December 2019,
and now lives in Lebanon. He says he is innocent and was unfairly targeted by
some at Nissan worried about Renault gaining greater influence.
Yuri Kageyama
is on Twitter https://twitter.com/yurikageyama