I was out yesterday driving my Prius around downtown Phoenix and saw the new Nissan Hybrid driving around. Phoenix is the test market for pretty much any new car since all of the proving grounds are here, and quite often we get to see cars with manufacturer plates driving around downtown. I love seeing Citroens, BMW 1-series, Mercedes A-class, VW Polos, H3s, Audi A3s, etc... but was really surprised to see the new Nissan Hybrid yesterday and in a panic snapped a few shots from my car. Sorry for the quality. This car definitely looks smaller than a Prius and a lot like the tiny Mercedes A-class, but bigger. It had right-hand driving, so this was definitely something meant for another market, but they're usually driving around downtown Phoenix to collect data and possibly for fuel economy information, but not sure? Anyway, enjoy the photos...
That looks like the same car. That pic on the page you posted makes it look smaller, like a 4-door civic hatchback.
Here's another link that shows the rear of the vehicle: http://www.freshalloy.com/site/cars/nissan...tino/home.shtml
Then I found this on another site: The Tino is powered by a combination of a 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine and an electric motor with lithium-ion batteries. The vehicle is a five passenger car that achieves twice the fuel economy and 50% less emissions. Nissan's Tino hybrid electric car will be sold only in Japan, initially. One hundred of the vehicles will be built, with a handful destined for trials in the USA.
Although the Web site above does not mention this, Nissan is licensing Toyota's Hybrid Synergy Drive. Guess they're calling it the Neo Hybrid system and Hyper CVT transmission.
I like the Li+ Ion battery idea, but the electric motor is only 22hp--1/3rd that of the Prius. It also sounds like they've got their own ECu programming if it really starts off in electric only...though I remember similar claims about the Prius. Certainly it CAN do that, but you've gotta be in NO hurry and have a very light touch to avoid the ICE. --evan
There seems to be more and more of these driving around phoenix - they must be doing some final testing before they release them in japan.... by the way - it's a lot shorter than the prius, but also a lot taller... ben
OK, so sneak up on one & tell me if the rear seats comes out or fold flat. If the the floor can be flat behind front seats, I'd buy it long before getting a Hybrid SUV. Looks like a mini-minivan. Laura
i like the Li-Ion thing too. i wonder how much more expensive that would be to say do an aftermarket replacement for my Prius. Li-Ion would more than triple the charge storage for the same size. i guess what it boils down to is the difference in price from what the Li battery would cost verses the price i can get for the old NiMH battery on e-bay :mrgreen: also the first pic made the vehicle look huge. if you would nt have said the vehicle was smaller i would never had guessed it. great pics though thanks for the info!
That explains it -- the photos make it look like a van or SUV, but your description of it being smaller than a Prius didn't jibe with the photos. Thank you for posting them! And kudos to your tenacity -- spotting them on the fly and tracking them through traffic is an accomplishment worthy of TV detectives. Interesting that this is a full hybrid, since the Tino starts and runs in low speeds under the electric motor only. Hope the reason that the two Tinos were together all the time wasn't reliability problems (i.e., "bring a spare"). :mrgreen:
Curious. The table at the bottom of the page says Year: 2000. Seems like this should be old news. Perhaps they have a typo.
