Nissan cars fuel 'greener' drives

Tokyo: If pushing the pedal makes the environmentalist in you cringe, Japanese carmaker Nissan Motor said on Monday it will equip all new cars with a device that could help improve fuel efficiency.

When the accelerator is pressed, a meter shows the driver by how much fuel consumption is rising, the nation's third-biggest carmaker said. The device could improve fuel efficiency by an average 10 per cent, it added.

"When people have a fuel-efficiency meter on their cars, they tend to drive more carefully, trying to achieve good readings," said Nissan spokeswoman Haruko Wada.

She said the automaker's move to make the device a standard feature on all of its cars is part of efforts to cut CO2 emissions and promote its environmental technologies.

The fuel-efficiency meter has been installed in some Nissan cars since 2006, Wada said.