July Plugin Sales : Leaf 395, Volt 1849, PIP 688, FFE 38

[evnow]

It's not the sales staff, it's not supply, it's not the charge station infrastructure...

It's a $38,000 car that goes 70 miles on a charge. It's always been that and will continue to be that.

To the average consumer, a hybrid or 40 mpg petrol vehicle makes far more sense. They're more convenient, less expensive, and don't require endless hours of charging.

Shhhh!

Stop making sense. You'll be banned. Or called names, or both.

When you are selling to a niche audience, you don't have to appeal to an "average" consumer.

 

[Train]

So Nissan is spending billions of dollars in development to sell to niche buyers? Makes building a plant capable of manufacturing 100,000+ EV's a puzzling decision.

 

[Clippy]

When you are selling to a niche audience, you don't have to appeal to an "average" consumer.

True 'dat.

Being a member of that niche, I've pronounced this whole idea of BEV's a silly thing. But then, I like silly.
It works for me.

A proud Electonot.

 

[mkjayakumar]

It's a $38,000 car that goes 70 miles on a charge. It's always been that and will continue to be that.

Nonsense. I drive a $25K car that goes 90 miles to a charge, or atleast 30 miles more than my need for a single day. You take the highest trim level and the lowest range and make it sound that it is a loser. Very Foxy..

 

[TRONZ]

When you are selling to a niche audience, you don't have to appeal to an "average" consumer.

Worked for Steve Jobs.

 

[Train]

Oh I'm sure Nissan will be thrilled selling 370 units per month to niche buyers.

 

[smkettner]

Even exponential growth can be deceivingly slow at first.

 

[TRONZ]

Oh I'm sure Nissan will be thrilled selling 370 units per month to niche buyers.

Probably not, but 25,000 LEAFs in 16 months is a nice little niche. But why do you care?

 

[adric22]

Oh I'm sure Nissan will be thrilled selling 370 units per month to niche buyers.

Actually.. they probably ARE thrilled. Nissan has already said they are purposefully limiting sales here in the USA until TN plant comes online. The real question is, how many Leafs were sold worldwide, specifically in Japan?

 

[TRONZ]

Actually the numbers are higher than 25,000 as we are missing alot of countries in the unofficial thread count. Norway alone has confirmed 1000 LEAFs on their roads already. I figure when Nissan breaks 30K delivered they will say something. If you project out the real total numbers (guess 26-27k) it looks like they are on track for doing this at around 18-19 months or mid summer.

 

[gbshaun]

It's a $38,000 car that goes 70 miles on a charge. It's always been that and will continue to be that.

Nonsense. I drive a $25K car that goes 90 miles to a charge, or at least 30 miles more than my need for a single day. You take the highest trim level and the lowest range and make it sound that it is a loser. Very Foxy..

Yup, me too. I can drive my 58 mile r/t as fast as i could in any other car, but with a nicer feel to the driving experience. It costs me a fraction as much as if I'd spent the same money on a similarly-equipped car, plus I feel good about a number of related aspects (environmental, economical, foreign issues).

 

[evnow]

Oh I'm sure Nissan will be thrilled selling 370 units per month to niche buyers.

What exactly is your point ?

Are you saying Leaf is not directed at a niche customer base ?

 

[cwerdna]

It's a $38,000 car that goes 70 miles on a charge. It's always been that and will continue to be that.

To the average consumer, a hybrid or 40 mpg petrol vehicle makes far more sense. They're more convenient, less expensive, and don't require endless hours of charging.

Your price is way exaggerated since you've left off the tax credits/rebates. So called "40 mpg petrol vehicle(s)" are actually low 30 mpg combined vehicles and even less in the city.

I'm going to have to agree that this month's sales # is horrible though. I do really wonder if it is due to Nissan artificially limiting supply to the US or if they are piling up at dealers or spread too thin since the Leaf's available in more states.

Nissan needs to do several things:
...
sell a decontented model at a lower price in addition to the higher end leather model

Make some sort of bundle offer to install a home charger for free or give it free up to $2,000 total install
or a free unit to carry out you install and a credit towards your install

retrain all sales people - relaunch car nationally , show LOW TCO, show fun factor ! new ad company
...
379 REQUIRES IMMEDIATE ACTION ON NISSANS PART

Nissan's floated the idea (at least in a survey) of leather, decontented model and bundling the EVSE. Take a look at http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=8685&p=193349" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

 

[LTLFTcomposite]

Actually the numbers are higher than 25,000 as we are missing alot of countries in the unofficial thread count. Norway alone has confirmed 1000 LEAFs on their roads already. I figure when Nissan breaks 30K delivered they will say something. If you project out the real total numbers (guess 26-27k) it looks like they are on track for doing this at around 18-19 months or mid summer.

Confirmed 27k and counting... albeit slowly.

http://green.autoblog.com/2012/04/04/carlos-ghosn-27-000-nissan-leafs-sold-worldwide-many-many-mor/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[klapauzius]

Actually the numbers are higher than 25,000 as we are missing alot of countries in the unofficial thread count. Norway alone has confirmed 1000 LEAFs on their roads already. I figure when Nissan breaks 30K delivered they will say something. If you project out the real total numbers (guess 26-27k) it looks like they are on track for doing this at around 18-19 months or mid summer.

Confirmed 27k and counting... albeit slowly.

http://green.autoblog.com/2012/04/04/carlos-ghosn-27-000-nissan-leafs-sold-worldwide-many-many-mor/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So... is that good or bad for us in the US?
370 seems dismal and sales elsewhere do not matter that much, as we need the infrastructure here. Which will only come if the car sells in reasonable numbers here?
There were a lot of cars that have been very successful in Europe, but you never saw them here in the US...If the LEAF edges out a market share elsewhere and disappears from the the US market (as has happened with other cars before) we are in trouble...

 

[EVDrive]

Boy did I get a great deal. 35k for the car, minus 5k (now only 2.5k) from CA, minus 7.5k from the feds, minus 700 for the quick charge port option and a free 2k charger and install from the bay area air quality district and ecotallity. So I paid $21,800 for my leaf with all the options and I have a free charger on my wall.

I paid 23k for my base model prius in 08 and the leaf is a way better car.
Plus I pay only $40 a month in electricity when I used to pay $200 a month in gas.

Life is good. If only more people would get past the sticker shock and drive electric.

qàuote="mkjayakumar"]

It's a $38,000 car that goes 70 miles on a charge. It's always been that and will continue to be that.

Nonsense. I drive a $25K car that goes 90 miles to a charge, or atleast 30 miles more than my need for a single day. You take the highest trim level and the lowest range and make it sound that it is a loser. Very Foxy..[/quote]

 

[KJD]

So... is that good or bad for us in the US?
370 seems dismal and sales elsewhere do not matter that much, as we need the infrastructure here. Which will only come if the car sells in reasonable numbers here?
There were a lot of cars that have been very successful in Europe, but you never saw them here in the US...If the LEAF edges out a market share elsewhere and disappears from the the US market (as has happened with other cars before) we are in trouble...

April sales 370 in USA. This is absolutely HORRIBLE. Last June Leaf sales were over 1700. Go back and read the chart on page 1 of this thread. I would say the entire year of 2012 has been lousy.

The real question we need to answer is why are sales so bad?

My Leaf was purchased in November of last year and it has been the very best car I have ever owned. Why are people not buying these cars ? The problem is not the car.

The problem is lack of charging stations. Here in Salt Lake County there must be over a thousand gas stations and compare that to the ten EV charge stations. 6 months ago there was one. If not for Walgreens stores there would still only be one. The best way to solve range anxiety is put charging stations everywhere.

KJD

 

[TRONZ]

Confirmed 27k and counting... albeit slowly.

http://green.autoblog.com/2012/04/04/carlos-ghosn-27-000-nissan-leafs-sold-worldwide-many-many-mor/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Ah, got it. Thank You.

"Ghosn has reason to be bullish. Nissan has sold 27,000 Leafs worldwide since introducing the car in late 2010, and 11,000 of those sales were in the U.S. And, he added, "The Nissan Leaf has had no quality problems."

I actuall do not care about any sales numbers other than total world sales numbers. On a global car this is the bottom line and that leads the way forward. The total world number is also what indicates economies of scale and directly effects the cost and choice of technology being planned for the next LEAF and other Nissan EV's. Let's keep our eye on the ball. An average of 1,700 LEAFs have been delivered each month for 16 months. That's pretty good for such a radically new product type.

 

[evmike]

In California people now have the option to get a plug-in Prius or Volt for the HOV sticker. This may have reduced the interest in the LEAF.

 

[GaslessInSeattle]

It may have a lot to do with the announcement of the 2013 Leaf upgrades and how they may be available as soon as August. Sure it's a ground breaking car the way it is, but it's quirky. In just a few months you'll be able to get something other than an absolutely dismal climate control, especially relevant due to improved heater and substantially improved winter time range. Anyone in all but the warmest climates reading up on complaints of the Leaf's heater would be a fool to not wait. If an L3 infrastructure were readily available, which may be years away, the double L2 charging speed wouldn't be a big deal, but lets be real, with L3 caught in an uncertain quagmire of demand charges and high installation cost, being able to charge twice as fast on L2 will open up the usefulness even to us diehards ... L2 is virtually useless accept for home and work at 3.3 kW speed. I spent 4.5 hours waiting for my car to charge today to go 135 miles, left at 11:40 in the AM and didn't get home till nearly 7pm... spent a very long time reading in a coffee shop when I should have been home working.

I suspect that sales will be down due to restrained demand leading up to the 2013 release. a 2013 SL fully loaded will be a keeper, especially with the hundreds of L2 already installed in the Seattle metro area and dozen + L3's getting installed in the state and turned on in a matter of weeks!!

So... is that good or bad for us in the US?
370 seems dismal and sales elsewhere do not matter that much, as we need the infrastructure here. Which will only come if the car sells in reasonable numbers here?
There were a lot of cars that have been very successful in Europe, but you never saw them here in the US...If the LEAF edges out a market share elsewhere and disappears from the the US market (as has happened with other cars before) we are in trouble...

April sales 370 in USA. This is absolutely HORRIBLE. Last June Leaf sales were over 1700. Go back and read the chart on page 1 of this thread. I would say the entire year of 2012 has been lousy.

The real question we need to answer is why are sales so bad?

My Leaf was purchased in November of last year and it has been the very best car I have ever owned. Why are people not buying these cars ? The problem is not the car.

The problem is lack of charging stations. Here in Salt Lake County there must be over a thousand gas stations and compare that to the ten EV charge stations. 6 months ago there was one. If not for Walgreens stores there would still only be one. The best way to solve range anxiety is put charging stations everywhere.

KJD