Nissan Motor Co. plans to reduce the number of platforms for its automobiles to five by around 2005, Nissan President Yoshikazu Hanawa said Tuesday.In an effort to reduce costs and shorten development lead time for new models, the company has been planning to consolidate major platforms, Hanawa said. The nation's No. 2 automaker Nissan currently has 24 platforms for passenger cars and recreational vehicles.Hanawa said sharing platforms among different models will shorten development lead time by around 10 months, compared with the development of a completely new platform. Stressing Nissan's efforts to bring environmentally friendly vehicles to the market, he added the company will introduce low-emission vehicles that reduce emission levels to around 10 percent of ordinary gasoline engines. All new models or fully redesigned models to debut this year will include low-emission versions, he said.
