Nissan Leaf gets lower base price

Purchase price of $18,000 possible with tax incentives


The 2013 Nissan Leaf goes on sale in February.

By: Lindsay Chappell, Automotive News on 1/14/2013

Nissan will sell a 2013 base Leaf S for $28,800, down from $35,200 on the 2012 base model.

Prices do not include destination charges, which are $850 for the 2012 model and have not been announced for the 2013 version.

The 2013 Leaf will go on sale next month as a U.S.-built model for the first time.

Commercial production of the Leaf began this month in Smyrna, Tenn., where the automaker has invested $1.8 billion to create mass production for the EV.

Nissan has had trouble marketing the Leaf since it went on sale in December 2010 as a Japanese import, due in large part to its retail price.

Last year, the company predicted U.S. Leaf sales of 20,000. Instead it sold less than half that.

Sales of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids have been slow nationwide, in part because of high price tags.

Sales of the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid have been aided by attractive lease deals. New EVs such as the Ford Focus EV have also increased competition.

Jose Munoz, who will become senior vice president for North American and South American sales and marketing in April, said that the Leaf will now transact for close to $18,800 for many U.S. customers once a $7,500 federal tax credit and various state incentives are figured into the purchase.

"This is going to represent a tipping point in our product," Munoz told reporters during a presentation by Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn.
http://www.autoweek.com/article/2013...NEWS/130119896

 

First buyers of the Leaf gotta be pissed

 

The price cut also included some decontenting as well, so it's not a pure price cut.

 

sure sure, but $6,400 is not just cutting a cd player, power windows with auto roll, and a moonroof (for the record I have no idea what they cut)

 

$6400 will buy you a lot of options, probably is enough from going from base leaf to fully loaded leaf with change left over

 

Wow, this is very tempting as a daily commuter (i do only about 10 miles round trip)! Shoot, now I'm kinda regretting the Civic purchase for my daughter!

 

Good move! At $28,800 (or 18,880 after tax incentives) it can really become mainstream! People who just want a "green" commuter and don't care about amenities will now have a potentially cheaper option than even the Prius c!

 

I reckon it depends on what different buyers may feel.

For some, they would prefer the build quality of the ones made in Oppama, Japan over the ones that will be built in Tennessee, USA.

As such, those select buyers will see the higher price premium as worth it due to better build quality of the Japan-made units over the local USA-built models.

Kinda a similar to a Lexus RX. No offense to Canadians but I would prefer to pay more for a Japan-built RX instead of saving a few bucks for a Canadian-made unit.

Just a thought =)

 

Decontenting and moving production of both the car AND the battery from Japan to Tennessee. The high value of the Japanese Yen is really hurting.

 

for a while we had Japanese, Turkish and British Auris coming to our showroom... obviously all same Euro spec... i dont care how hard you looked, except for different stickers, you couldnt find any differences nor did we ever have an issue that is specific to one factory but not another.

so i wouldnt hesitate to get Canadian built Lexus based on that experience.

 

no such state tax credit in Texas, but then again I don't pay state income tax either....

 

GM needs to seriously consider doing this with the Volt. Tax-credits or not, that car is, IMO, significantly overpriced. That's also (somewhat) the case with the Toyota Prius Plug-in, but not to the same extent.

 

I highly doubt that decontenting the Volt will affect its retail price that much. The "luxury" content that automakers add to higher-priced cars such as EVs and hybrids are added to "justify" the high price to consumers, when, in fact, those features cost the automaker very little (they can add them at very little relative cost and fool the buyers into thinking they are, in fact, paying a higher price for a luxury vehicle, which they are willing to pay but not willing to pay for new technology). The Volt should have been sold from the start as a Buick or Cadillac (at the same or somewhat higher retail price). You, Mike, and millions of other North Americans would have had much less sticker shock, I believe, had GM done that.

I believe that the main reason for the price cut in the Leaf is the transfer of production from Japan to the American South: cheaper labour costs, cheaper transportation costs to dealers and cheaper dollar/yen. The decontenting of the base version is just to give a perception and provide a attractive loss-leader in the showroom.

 

I was refering to a general lowering of the Volt's price, whether it actually included decontenting or not. I've reviewed the Volt, and, tax-credits or not, I just don't think it's worth with it often takes to get into one. They start around 40K, usually have 3-4K of options, and then the dealership (because of supply/demand and the car's image) tacks on another 3-4K in ADM's. So, even with a Federal $7500 tax-credit (credits vary by state) it still will typically cost 40K or more to get into one....absurd, IMO, for the car's size and class, even though it does have expensive lithium-ion batteries.


Right now, I drive a 25K Buick Verano (just over half the Volt's typical dealer-list price), that, except for gas mileage and the ability to run on electronics, is, IMO, a significantly better car than the Volt....especially inside.



Interesting point. I generally agree, but, on transportation costs, let's wait and see if the "Destination/Freight" charge at the bottom of the price-sticker is any lower on the American-built cars. Some manufacturers charge the same destination charge for certain models, no matter where they are built or what dealership they are sent to.

 

Perhaps......but since we're talking about premium automobiles, the best possible quality always come from the source or the origin country of the manufacturer.

I mean: Would you rather buy an Audi that's made by Germans...........or by Indians?