Nissan Motor Co. today said it will mass-produce electric vehicles for market consumption by 2012.

Nissan, Japan's third-largest automaker, said it would sell its first electrics in Japan and the U.S. after April and mass produce them globally in 2012.

Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn said that the company will produce electric vehicles in the U.S. at its Tennessee plant, which has an output capacity of more than 100,000 units per year, as well as in Japan and Europe.

Nissan is racing other automakers to bring electric cars to the U.S. market. Tesla Motors has a prototype scheduled to be produced by 2011, and Toyota Motor Corp. has said it plans to sell electrics in the U.S. by 2012 (Shino Yuasa, AP/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, June 23). -- PR