Wednesday, September 27, 2023
Homedavos world economic forum 2014Stay tuned on Japan, Iran and self-drive cars: Ghosn

Stay tuned on Japan, Iran and self-drive cars: Ghosn

Carlos Ghosn, the CEO of Renault Nissan has told CNBC that the Japanese car maker will invest heavily in self-drive vehicles and more announcements should be expected soon.

"Stay tuned, because (there's) a lot of investment coming there. You are going to see the car before 2020," he said at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

(Read More: Nissan to build self-driven cars)

Nissan, the sixth-largest automaker in the United States, announced in August 2013 it will sell a self-driven car by 2020. The vehicles — seen as rivals to similar autonomous cars being tested by Google — will give the user the choice to either drive or let the computer take over that duty, Ghosn said.

"You'll have the choice. If you want to drive, if you are fanatic of driving in a traffic jams..," he said.

He added that electric cars were also doing very well for the company, claiming that Renault Nissan were the first company to sell 100,00 electric models globally and that electric cars were outselling hybrid models by a ratio of three-to-one.

(Read More: Autos to lead US economic growth in 2014: CEOs)

"The battle for the electrification of cars is far from finished, it's just starting," he said.

In November, Ghosn dismissed worries that the auto industry was in crisis after the world's sixth largest automaker slashed its profit outlook.

Nissan cut its annual net profit outlook for the year ending March 2014 by nearly 20 percent to 355 billion yen ($3.62 billion) amid an expected slowdown in its emerging market sales and quality issues involving multiple vehicle recalls.

Carlos GhosnGetty Images

As well as the foray into new technologies, Ghosn said he had reason to feel bullish from the economic situations in Japan and Iran.

RELATED ARTICLES

Most Popular