minispeed
Well-known member
ishiyakazuo said:I suspect there's truth in both the Soul EV and the Volt 2 being factors. Nissan is simply seeing more competition and knows they need to step it up.GetOffYourGas said:TonyWilliams said:This appears to be Nissan's answer to the Kia Soul EV, but obviously they will have to compete against the GM Bolt in just 1.5 years (likely a 36-40kWh battery).
The Tesla Model 3 will likely be offered as a 50kWh car, with a real 200 mile range at 55mph on perfect days.
It's funny, my thought was this is their answer to Volt 2.0. With 50 miles of range plus a range extender, the jump to an 84 mile Leaf is a bridge too far for many consumers.
Kia Soul is good competition, but with such low production rates set for 2016, I don't think that Nissan is losing any appreciable sales (or sleep) because of it. Now Leaf 2 will obviously have stiff competition with the Bolt and Model III around. So that's where I expect to see the *real* range increase (i.e. 150-200 miles).
Or maybe it's a way to insulate against a tank in 2016 sales once details of the leaf 2 start to come out like we saw with the volt. It may also be to increase residual values so that they can still offer attractive lease rates.