While Toyota’s own alternatively-fuelled performance car program appears to be faltering, Nissan have apparently stepped up to the plate with their plan to introduce a hydrogen fuel cell powered sports vehicle by late 2014.

Autocar reports that Nissan is considering making their first production fuel cell vehicle a high-performance or luxury model, largely to help justify the model’s anticipated £50,000 cost sticker price. Nissan’s fuel cell lab manager Izuho Hirano also told Autocar that such a car should also have "a point of additional appearl besides a fuel cell" if it’s to be a commercial success. Wise words indeed.

It’s still early days though, so it’s still too early to tell exactly whether Nissan will be hydrogen-ising the Z, GT-R, Silvia replacement or simply creating a new standalone model. Nissan hasn’t yet signed off on development of a fuel cell car either, so a hydrogen-burnin’ sports car from the big N still isn’t a dead certainty. The decision to go ahead or not will likely be made early next year, although if economic indicators and consumer attitudes are anything to go by, Nissan will be rushing to get a hydrogen fuel cell car on the market as soon as humanly possible.

[Source: Autocar]