This is lower than the initial prediction of 1 million annual sales without government subsidies. Ghosn also predicted further strengthening of the auto industry, but said it may come through partnerships rather than takeovers.
Battery technology and electric vehicle advancements had reduced the production value needed to make Evs profitable to "somewhere between 500,000 and 1m." It is important for the Alliance's EV programme to become profitable without government subsidies because of moves made by many Western countries to cut back on government spending.
"We are conscious of the fact this [the subsidies] cannot last forever," he said.
Ghosn has high hopes about the potential for Nissan's Leaf, which will go on sale in the US and Japan in December, prior to its launch in other markets.
"We are going to be capacity-constrained for the next three years," he said, mainly because Nissan and its suppliers won't be able to make enough batteries to meet demand.
"Practically all the cars we can build are being pre-ordered," he added.
Nissan plans to produce 200,000 battery packs annually and 150,000 vehicles in the US by 2013, when the Leaf starts production at the new factory in Tennessee. The plant won a $1.4 billion low-cost government loan. Ghosn confirmed his previous statement that electric vehicles will account for 10% of global vehicle sales by 2020.
He said Nissan won't "have to worry about what's going to be the sales tactics" for the Leaf for the next three years because demand is currently overwhelming production. In addition to that, Nissan hasn't yet decided to enter some big markets with the Leaf, including China.
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