Earlier this month, we reported on Nissan’s plans to drop the Altima Hybrid from its lineup at the end of the 2011 model year because of poor sales in the States as well as the fact that it uses a hybrid system borrowed from its chief Japanese rival, Toyota.

On Monday, Japanese business daily Nikkan Kogyo said that Nissan has already began work on a new hybrid system for front-wheel drive cars that will be based on the firm’s rear-wheel-drive hybrid drivetrain that launched in the 2012 Infiniti M Hybrid.

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The current Nissan Altima Hybrid is counting days (well, more like months) in the U.S. as the Japanese automaker plans to drop the gasoline-electric hybrid model from its lineup at the end of the 2011 model year, according to a report from Autonews. The hybrid sedan hasn’t been much of a success for Nissan as only 35,000 units have been sold in the States since its introduction in the market in 2007.

Aside from the somewhat disappointing sales, Nissan’s decision may also have to do with the fact that the Altima Hybrid utilizes a hybrid system sourced from rival Toyota. Nissan has since developed its own hybrid system with a new lithium-ion battery that made its debut on the 2012 Infiniti M Hybrid.

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After Garmin announced a voluntary recall of 1.25 million units of its popular Nuvi GPS system at the end of August amidst concerns that the batteries could overheat and catch fire, Suzuki and Nissan followed with a recall on several vehicles equipped with the affected Garmin Nuvi navigation systems including the 750, 760, or 765 models for the same reason.

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