Mandelson hoping Nissan will build electric cars in Britain+

TOKYO, Oct. 5 Kyodo -
Visiting British Secretary of State for Business Peter Mandelson expressed hope
Monday that Nissan Motor Co. will take a step further toward manufacturing
electric vehicles in Britain.

''I am...excited that we are going to see battery production in Britain (for
electric vehicles) and I'm very hopeful that that will be followed up by the
full car production,'' Mandelson told reporters after a meeting with Andy
Palmer, Nissan's senior vice president, at the British Embassy in Tokyo.
''So between Britain and Nissan, it's all systems go,'' he said.
Mandelson also said ''green technology is very important for the future of the
car industry as a whole.''
Separately, Palmer told reporters that Nissan has not yet made any decision on
full car production in Britain.
Nissan has already announced it plans to assemble electric vehicles around 2012
in the United States, Palmer said, adding, ''We hope to have a European version
in the same kind of timeframe.''
Earlier in the day, Mandelson met with Katsuaki Watanabe, vice chairman of
Toyota Motor Corp., and top Japanese government officials.
In his meeting with Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, Japanese officials quoted
the premier as saying his new government will make efforts to broaden trade
with Britain.
With Masayuki Naoshima, Japan's minister of economy, trade and industry,
Mandelson agreed to promote efforts to conclude the stalled Doha Round of trade
liberalization talks under the World Trade Organization.
The officials said that Mandelson, a former European Union trade commissioner,
also stressed the need for collaboration in the international trade arena at a
time when WTO members are aiming to wrap up the Doha talks next year, as they
were originally scheduled to be concluded in 2005.
==Kyodo