25,000 Nissan Leaf EVs to Deliver in US by the end of 2011 : Nissan has responded to rumors that high demand for its Leaf EV in Japan could cause the company to limit delivery in the United States to just around 3,000 units by the end of March, 2011.
In talks with the people at Nissan-Leaf, Mark Perry, the director of product planning with Nissan, said the company was “still targeting 25,000 reservations by December 2010 and will be able deliver most during (the) model year.” Nissan also said of the manager of Mossy Nissan who sparked the rumor that it was ,“Purely speculative on Mossy’s part. production allocation is based on number of customer orders. Our order window opens in a few weeks. The general manager has no special insight.”
There’ll be more Leaf units on the ground than on a Fall color tour, as it appears that the earlier rumors about most of the Leaf units going to Japan were premature, and that plenty of them will be routed toward the United States. In fact, Nissan projects that the waiting list will be completely cleared, and most folks will actually have their Leaf units by the fall of 2011.
Nissan Leaf is the first electric car model from the company. Competition is stiff from hybrid models including Toyota Prius and Chevrolet Volt.
Nissan already announced its rollout schedule for its own electric car, the $32,780 Leaf. The vehicle will be available in December in California, Washington, Oregon, Arizona and Tennessee. Customers there, who make up more then 55% of the reservations so far for the Leaf, can start placing firm orders in August.
The car will show up in Texas and Hawaii in January. In April, customers in North Carolina; Florida; Georgia; Washington, D.C.; Virginia; Maryland; South Carolina; and Alabama can start buying.
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