Feb 10 (NHK) - The president of Suzuki Motor has told NHK it plans to develop its first electric commercial vehicle in coming years.
This is the first time for the Japanese automaker to reveal a roadmap of its future EV development.
Suzuki Toshihiro, President of Suzuki, said, "We have to keep trying to find ways of coming up with good EV cars through trial and error."
Suzuki said the vehicle will be modeled on the Every business-use microvan sold in Japan. The current gasoline model falls under the "kei" classification, whose engines are no bigger than 660 cubic centimeters.
The company expects to use its experience developing and selling the van to eventually manufacture EV passenger vehicles. These models would also be based on Suzuki's "kei cars."
The micro-vehicles account for roughly 40 percent of Suzuki's new car sales in Japan.