Next-gen Nissan Altima Hybrid to feature supercharged 2.5-liter, advanced CVT, li-ion battery

Thanks for posting. I saw the rumor that other day and didn't get around to posting it.

I'm puzzled as the NAH using HSD didn't lack power at 198 hp nor acceleration per Consumer Reports - Fuel economy vs. performance. It was almost certainly the fastest in the 0-60 of 4 banger hybrids and faster than even some V6 hybrids.

Maybe Nissan might go w/a smaller engine or de-tune it even more if they're going to put in a supercharger? If they went the performance hybrid route... well, we all know how well the HAH did.

In order for next NAH to be competitive, IMHO, they're going to have to get their fuel economy numbers up. I can see why the NAH was killed for MY2012. With 2 hp less, significantly worse FE (33 mpg combined) and a smaller trunk than the '12 HyCam, it would've looked pretty uncompetitive.

My guess is also perhaps that Toyota or its suppliers didn't want to keep making previous gen components to supply to Nissan. I'd imagine the PSD is sourced from Toyota or its suppliers. The inverter had a Toyota part number sticker on it!

 

The Altima is entirely speculation on the part of the authors of the article.

 

It didn't sell well. Wasn't refined. It did not compete well with the fussion. Nissan likely lost money on everyone and had to give a competitor, toyota, money.

No nissan said they didn't want to pay the money. I don't think nissan had a chance to ever make money using the toyota parts and competing with the fussion, sonata, and camry hybrid. That is why it was killed.

This author is just starting a rumor. Nissan has not anounced a new altima hybrid.

 

I don't think they ever thought they would make money. They sell it in only a limited number of states, and they had to heavily discount them there. They never sold them in Texas and I don't think they ever sold them in canada.

 

Tideland, I think you're seeing how aggressively (or not) Nissan Canada tried to sell it.

There are plenty on the road here in California. They were easy to find at the 2 Nissan dealers we went to when my mom was on the market. I've seen lots used as taxis in NYC and a few used as taxis in Boston. IIRC, in Boston, the NAHs were mixed in with regular Altimas though...

The dealer my mom ended up buying from (strangely) had a bunch of leftover 07 NAHs in Feb 08. Not sure what was up with that. I think some of them were sent there by other dealers.

They weren't that heavily discounted when my mom bought, but afterward, they were discounted VERY heavily (incentives typically were $4K, reaching as high as $5K).

 

True about it not selling well. It selling only in a handful of states didn't help. Yeah, it is a bit lacking in refinement but is fast (I drive my mom's NAH, on occasion).

I'd imagine Carlos Ghosn didn't like giving his competitor money on each one...

 

Google:

west/otto/atkinson/miller PSD

 

i dont think 2.5l S/C hybrid will go into Altima... probably into Infiniti's.
If I had to guess, Altima will get much smaller engine, something like 1.7l, SC'd.

You guys are aware of miller cycle Micra on sale in Europe now?
Nissan Micra DIG-S [printer-friendly] ? reghardware

It obviously uses 1.2l 3cly engine and S/C to get 98hp and performance similar to 4cly engines of same output, just much better MPG. For instance, it is 15% more efficient than Yaris 1.33 with 99hp, that is otherwise most efficient petrol in its class. MPG numbers are very similar to small diesels.

Of course, problem comes in the form on added cost and as results this engine is not sold in many european countries.

 

I thought I'd read that both Nissan and Ford had crossed licensed with Toyota regarding their HSD's so as not to end up w/ tons of legal costs:

Toyota Builds Thicket of Patents Around Hybrid To Block Competitors - WSJ.com

And yet ... look how ford has let its hybrid Escape sales languish. Pretty low volumes of sales, when comparred to the (combo) Highlander / RX hybrids. But since no money changed hands with their cross licensing, it's simply a matter of other issues effecting sales ... not necessarily avoiding paying money to the competition.

If anyone made a boat-load of money on hybrid patent filing, it was Alex Severinsky

The Secret Company That's Profiting From Every Hybrid On The Road
$100 per car? time millions of hybrids? ouch!

 

The deals were entirely different. Nissan was paying toyota per car, and using the same parts.

 

I never did see anything definitive as to how much came from Toyota or its suppliers. I do know the inverter has a Toyota bar code and part # on it, under the plastic cover. (Cover was detached on a NAH at an auto show.)

I wouldn't be surprised if the HV battery and PSD come from the same places as what go in the HyCam. I doubt Jatco or Nissan would make a PSD and I doubt Nissan has any makes or has partners for NiMH battery manufacturing. I wonder about stuff like the electrically operated AC compressor, electric power steering and braking system...

The NAH service manual in a couple spots does have references to Toyota but I don't think it says anywhere about which parts come from who.

If you have something definitive, I'd be curious to see it.

edit: From a bit of digging, not surprisingly, the HV battery pack specs of the 07 HyCam are almost identical to that of the NAH (http://www.nissan-techinfo.com/refgh0v/og/FRG/2011-FRG.pdf vs. https://techinfo.toyota.com/techInfoPortal/staticcontent/en/techinfo/html/prelogin/docs/camryhv.pdf)

 

Toyota's PSD is simply a modern implementation of a design that was patented by TRW (Thompson/Ramo/Wooldridge) back in the 70's.

 

eh.

 

Actually, Volt's implementation has the same setup as the original TRW patent with 3 clutches added.

The PSD implementation in both HSD and Ford hybrid reversed the input and output.

This is why Prius' output to the wheel (ring gear) is the gas engine input for the Volt. The planet carrier is Prius' gas engine input but it is the output to the wheels for the Volt.

 

there are zillions of them as taxis in SF.