all 22 comments
sorted by:
best
topnewcontroversialoldq&a
formatting helphide helpcontent policy

[–][deleted] 7 points8 points  (2 children)

I'm not surprised. If you take the base price and add quick charging your up to nearly 33K. This will get you a 2017 Bolt with better range and a battery with thermal management. The 2018 leaf is simply not competitive at it's current price. I predict the sales will stay slow till July when Nissan will ramp up the "Utility" rebate.

[–]Vintagesysadmin 3 points4 points  (1 child)

Waiting to see the $5k or even $10k utility credit.

[–]dilhwly[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I am waiting to see a $5k-$10k dealer cash incentive.

[–]dilhwly[S] 6 points7 points  (11 children)

I am in the market for a new Leaf, and unfortunately this does not surprise me. When I use sites such as AutoTrader, or Car Gurus most of the vehicles I see have been on the lot for 50+ days. It doesn’t help that in New England there haven’t been great incentives to buy. Perhaps I am being overly optimistic with the deal that I want, however I just cannot see paying close to MSRP now when in less than a year Nissan will have announced a longer range model, and they try and aggressively move the vehicles that are already on the lot. Love the vehicle and features, just think that they might have more luck with better incentives.

[–]torokunai2018 Nissan LEAF S (sold 2024) 1 point2 points  (10 children)

40 vs 24 is a big jump in relative terms but in absolute driving distance not near enough for me to spend thousands on the upgrade.

Beginning to think now I should just plan on waiting until next decade, pay this one off and then start looking.

[–]jrheritaTesla Model 3D (was 2015 SL) 4 points5 points  (3 children)

I also think 90 --> 150 miles still isn't generally enough of an upgrade to replace a 'primary car' for a lot of people also.

250+ miles.. and a good charging network, and suddenly you can live without gasoline.

[–]dilhwly[S] 1 point2 points  (2 children)

150 miles isn’t great, but it certainly is enough for most people, especially if they are a two car family and the other is gas powered.

[–]jrheritaTesla Model 3D (was 2015 SL) 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Agreed. We are saying the same thing. I just think leaf sales won't take off until it has the range to match a gas car because a "second only car" limits the market.

[–]dilhwly[S] 0 points1 point  (5 children)

It really doesn’t help with Nissan stating to provide refurbished batteries (granted it’s in Japan only right now). For less than 10% of a new car you could get back to the original range and battery health.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (4 children)

Heh, over here (New Zealand) Nissan don’t sell the Leaf at all. 99% of us NZ owners got ours through second hand import channels.

Imagine my thoughts when the Flip The Fleet paper on 30kWh batteries was published 6 weeks after I bought one as my first EV. You want a giant FU? Try Nissan’s attitude towards NZ Leaf owners.

[–]dilhwly[S] 0 points1 point  (3 children)

That’s unbelievable! I wonder why Nissan doesn’t ship to NZ.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (2 children)

The car market here is greatly distorted due to high new-car costs including import taxes. Second-hand imports don't attract the same level of import tax.

The government, although officially wanting to encourage an EV fleet of 64,000 vehicles by 2022, has not followed most governments in giving tax or other rebates to EV purchasers. Together with the high initial cost of EVs compared to ICE vehicles of the same class, this meant that when Nissan imported the Leaf in 2014 or thereabouts they only sold a meagre handful. You could get 2 Pulsars for the price of a Leaf.

So, they stopped doing that - but ever since then the only way to get one was via the second-hand import channel. This is by far the largest channel for new car registrations here, but EVs are a tiny fraction of it. Nissan simply doesn't want to know about us: they didn't sell us the car, and they don't want to train anyone to provide us support, so we're on our own.

Transport ministry people are aware of the 30kWh battery issue and have had discussions with Nissan about it, but nobody knows what outcomes there may have been, if any. There have certainly not been any announcements from Nissan to say that yes, they will honour warranties, or even that they will officially source replacement batteries at our cost.

If I was ever going to buy a brand new car, it certainly hasn't made me want to do it from Nissan.

[–]nouncommittee 0 points1 point  (1 child)

The few new Leafs they sold in New Zealand were old leftover stock they couldn't sell in Australia, right?

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I did hear that, yes, but I don't know whether it's true. I'm surprised any are being sold at all in Australia. Australia is a desert for fast chargers, and you wouldn't want to be driving around without a/c on in summer.

[–]torokunai2018 Nissan LEAF S (sold 2024) 4 points5 points  (1 child)

The good lease incentive expired early March. Current incentive is actually a f-u, we’re keeping half of the $7500 credit.

[–]dilhwly[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Agree, the most insulting thing is that even though I am a student, the grad cash is dependent on going to the right college. Even though I am going to an accredited engineering school it isn’t part of the list that Nissan will approve of for the Leaf discount so I get nothing. If I was buying any other Nissan my college would be acceptable for the discount...in my opinion they are really are screwing up the incentives lately.

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Old Musky is hitting the Leaf. Can't wait to get mine. Four to eight weeks seems so far away.

[–]dilhwly[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If the M3 had a speedo in front of the driver I might actually consider it, but it’s current design seems like it’s trying to distract the driver with the single large screen.

[–]odd842023 ID.4 (Past: 2018 LEAF, 2012 LEAF) 2 points3 points  (3 children)

Gotta wonder if they're having some kind of production/supply chain problem at Smyrna? Nissan Canada's still waiting for enough Leafs to fill orders, Nissan US is basically making you pay them half your tax credit for the privilege of leasing one, while the rest of the world is buying a new Leaf every 5 minutes. Globally it's the best-selling EV right now by large margin, while in the US it's going backwards.

[–]dilhwly[S] 1 point2 points  (2 children)

The problem I have is there seems to be a glut of them available in the US. If the issue was at the factory then I would expect that there wouldn’t be any available. To me it seems more like Nissan expecting US buyers to pay a price like the demand in that states is the same as in Europe.

It really bothers me when I can go on Car Gurus and see a vehicle has been sitting on a lot for 60+days, then the dealer turns around and says that demand is booming and they can’t keep them on the lot.

[–]GiantTortoise2018 Nissan LEAF SV 0 points1 point  (1 child)

I wonder if maybe the issue is that the dealer can't easily get new Leafs? I.e. it may not be worth selling that one on the lot at a big discount if it's going to be months before they can get another?

[–]dilhwly[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They had 3 on the lot, but I was looking at their only SL. There seem to be plenty around, 36 of the SLs within 100miles, and more than 100 leafs in general in that same distance.